Through Julie's Eyes
by S. Snowflake
Summary: Sequel to "Return to Skid Row." Audrey and Seymour's daughter realizes that life can be a very confusing thing. Will the family stick together with a new flower shop, a baby on the way, and a new threat to Seymour and Audrey's marriage?
1. Happy Birthday, Julie

_Author's Note/Disclaimer: By popular and personal interest during my last fan fiction, I decided to make another Little Shop of Horrors movie sequel. This story centers largely around my original character Julie Krelborn. I was inspired by a few things for this: my own life, some fan fictions by my friend filmgrl13, and the musical Rent to name a few. I have my beta readers to thank; Ossiana of the B.P.R.D. and my sister who calls herself The Ghost Peacock. You two are real life savers! I own none of the characters you are going to recognize from the musical, obviously, but we have to do this disclaimer, don't we? Ah well, enjoy!_

_*S. Snowflake_

* * *

_**Through Julie's Eyes**_

**Chapter One: Happy Birthday, Julie**

The new day began with a breath of sunlight over the small town of Greenville. Everywhere life began anew as the blaze of dawn engulfed the neighborhood. The roofs of the identical tract homes glowed a faint ochre on each shingle, while each stiff, cold blade of grass seemed to spring up. Even the trees seemed to shiver, their yellow leaves of autumn falling down like rain as the wind whipped through their branches. Most of the town's residents were at home or walking their dogs since it was a Sunday morning and fewer people worked on that day. Sunshine Street was no different from the other streets in town as it was full of life just starting to bloom open again.

The Krelborn family's little house sat in the middle of the street. It had a picket fence and the floral mailbox out front, and stood still, as if still asleep, for the moment. Through the far left window of the house was a small bedroom that belonged to the only child of the house, a little girl. She slept soundly that morning with her thick brunette locks splayed about the covers and pillow and a ragged stuffed bunny tucked tightly under her left arm. On the carpet below her bed, a spotted brown spaniel dog snored as he too slept. When a strong sunray came through the window and hit the dog's eyes, he yawned and stood up and shook his floppy ears, then looked over at the sleeping girl and whimpered while standing on its hind legs and nudging her hand with his nose. One the dog knew that would not accomplish his mission, he licked the hand repeatedly.

"No, no. Don't wake me up, Rover…" the young girl mumbled and fell back asleep.

Rover sat down on his rump before lifting his head up in the air and emitting a defiant howl, "Aahoo!"

The girl sat up with a start and looked over at the dog. "-Kay, okay, I'm up."

The dog seemed to smile as she got out of bed and petted his head lightly. "Hey Rover, do ya' know what day it is?" she asked him.

Rover looked back at her and made a sound between a yelp and a grunt.

"Yep, it's my birthday today!" she replied. "Come on, let's see if Mama and Daddy are up yet."

She tiptoed out of her bedroom and down the hall to her parents' bedroom. With a slight door creak, she opened the door and entered the room, telling Rover in a whisper to hush so that they could sneak inside unnoticed. Silently, she walked over to the bed where her parents slept side by side and approached her sleeping mother and shook the covers vigorously.

"Mama, Mama, wake up. It's my birthday today, Mama!" the young girl exclaimed as she tried to wake her mother.

Her mother stirred in her sleep and pushed her hand out from under the blanket. "Sweetie, go back to sleep," she grumbled and buried her fair face into the pillow, frizzing up her platinum blonde hair from moving.

"But Mama," Julie whined and climbed on top of the bed. "I don't wanna' go back to sleep, it's my birthday."

Again, her mother stirred and rolled over onto her back before opening her green eyes and looking into her daughter's eyes. "Where'd you eva' learn to be so stubborn, Julie?" she asked in her characteristic accent. "If I'd eva' talked back to my mama when I was your age, I'd a' been hit with a paddle."

Julie looked at her mother and patted her rump thoughtfully. "But you wouldn't do that, would you Ma?"

Her mother smiled before reaching over and kissing her daughter's brow. "No, but sometimes I get tempted. Why don't you go and pour some cereal for ya' self while I get your father up, okay?"

Julie nodded in response and skipped out of the bedroom merrily. Once she left, her mother shook her father's shoulder beside her. "Honey? Seymour honey, wake up."

Seymour grunted before stretching and waking up. He reached a hand over to the nightstand and found his pair of glasses. "'Morning, Audrey," he said tiredly but with a smile as he put on the bulgy, black spectacles.

"Good morning, Seymour." she replied with nearly the same tone and a yawn. "Well, today's a big day for Julie. Our little baby's six years old."

"Gee…" Seymour thought aloud and noticed how his wife seemed somewhat upset with the subject of her getting older. "Hey, it's not like she's turnin' eighteen and movin' out, Audrey."

"I know. It's just that I won't be able to have those baby days back again. It makes think she doesn't need me anymore." Then she sighed. "I guess that's what growin' up is about."

"Yeah," Seymour said, hugging his wife and then sitting up. "So, what do you want me to do for this shindig? Decorations? Gettin' a cake?"

"I've got everything, honey. As long as you've got the present that is. Why don't you just take her out for a few hours while I set it all up?"

"Don't worry about the present, I've got that taken care of. But Audrey, don't you think you might want some help with it all? I mean, I don't want you to get tired."

"Seymour, I'm fine," Audrey argued. "I stay in this house all day long doin' harder work than this," she paused. "-But we _both_ appreciate your concern."

That comment made her husband smile faintly and he hugged Audrey one more time before standing up out of bed and putting on his slippers. "All right, I'll take her out. Maybe to the shop sight again?"

"That's a wonda' ful idea," his wife squeaked before Seymour walked out the door. She followed him after adjusting her robe and walked directly behind him down the hall. They walked together into the kitchen and the dining room area where their young daughter sat at the table with a bowl of Corn Flakes cereal in front of her.

At last Julie looked up at her parents smiling and swallowed her cereal. "Hi Daddy. Hi Mama. Can I have some cake?"

"And why would you get something like that?" Audrey asked her daughter playfully.

"'Cause it's my birthday, Mama."

"Oh, that's right," Audrey said before she walked over to hug Julie tightly.

"Ma, lemme' go. I can't breath!" Julie squeaked.

"Oh, how can I help it? You're a big girl now," Audrey said in an overly maternal fashion. "Six years ago you were just my little baby. Gosh, how you've grown up."

"Mama…" her daughter whimpered until at last she was freed from the hug. "Can I have some cake now, pretty please?"

"Oh, there'll be cake… afta' you go with your dad to oversee the shop."

"But Ma, I already went to the shop twice 'dis week with Daddy."

Her father grinned and spoke at last. "But you haven't seen the new sign yet, Julie girl. It's all shiny and new and just waiting for business. Come on. We'd better get moving if we wanna get things done today." As his daughter frowned and washed out her bowl, Seymour winked at his wife then sat down at the table and began reading a gardening magazine that had been left there and babbled about his proud ambition. "I can see it all. The business, the potential, the customers…"

Audrey laughed nervously and walked toward her husband with a cup of coffee in each hand. "The way you talk these days about the shop, you sound a lot like Mista' Mush_ni_- I mean, your dad."

Seymour tried to smile at her as she sat down across from him with her coffee while handing him his own, but her last statement bothered him. "It's what he would've wanted. He always wanted a successful flower shop, and he only got success once and then he died. I have to make it up to him."

"If he wanted a successful flowa' shop, then it was his mistake to build it in Skid Row, not yours, Seymour."

"I made a promise to Pop when we went back to the city. I told him I'd make a new shop for him, and I'm going to stick to my promise." He paused. "Oy, what trouble have I got myself into with all this?"

Audrey giggled. "And now you sound just like your dad. Well, do whateva' you think is right. Just be yourself."

Seymour nodded with a small smile on his face and glanced at his watch. "Holy cow, it's almost nine!" he gasped before clumsily jumping out the chair, grabbing some toast to eat out of the toaster, and running back into the master bedroom to change into his clothes.

Audrey hummed faintly in a half-laugh and her eyes flashed momentarily to her stomach before looking back up. "Ah, my Seymour."

* * *

A half hour passed by. Julie sat in the backseat of the blue 1957 bug after shouting, "Bye, Ma!" to her mother who was standing out on the front porch with her father. As usual, her parents were talking about something or another that she was not particularly interested in. Her mother always had a way of bringing up conversations and her father had a way of getting wrapped up in them, but luckily their chat ended quickly and they hugged before Seymour walked to the car and started it. With a quick rumble of the engine they were headed off down the street and into the interior of town.

Greenville was a fairly quiet town. It was not a very old or large city, as people had only really started moving in after the suburban migration from the big towns like New York City. Almost all the citizens lived in new tract houses except for some older houses on the outskirts and the apartments on the interior. The entire feel of town was charming in an almost old-fashioned way despite the new developments. It was appealing to Seymour and Audrey, both of whom had grown up in the worst corner of Manhattan and did not want to live with more cold concrete and monstrous buildings any longer. Small businesses were springing up all over the lower east side of town, and Seymour's new shop would soon join the group. It was humble and small on the corner lot where just enough space for the small shop to be built.

As the father and daughter exited the blue car, Seymour pulled out his worn blueprints. He unfolded the crinkled pages and scanned the lines with his eyes before looking down at his daughter at his side and then up at his nearly finished work. Everything about his tiny store was a refurbished replica of the shop that he had known all of his life. From the red brick walls surrounding the window to the beige-yellow walls and the checkered linoleum floor on the inside, the shop was the same. It was the most beautiful store in the world to Seymour.

"D'ya see it?" he asked Julie while staring up at the window.

"What, Daddy?" Julie asked.

Seymour smiled. "The name. Isn't it great?"

Julie's brow creased as she concentrated on the gold letters painted onto the glass and read it aloud slowly. "M-Mush-n-nick-k-" She stopped, puzzled.

"That's an 'and' sign. It just looks a little fancier that way," said her father.

"Oh, okay. Mush-nik and Sons." Julie finished sounding it out. "Mushnik and Son's?"

"Good job," Seymour complemented, patting the girl's back. "You can read pretty well for six years old. I didn't learn to read until I was at least seven."

"Why'd you name the shop after your grumpy ol' boss, Daddy?" his daughter asked, ignoring his complement.

"Well, that's um…" Seymour took a breath and looked down at the pavement at his feet before answering her, "You know when we visited the city a couple a' years back?" After his daughter nodded, he continued. "See, I got to a lot a' thinkin' about things after that. About how I could make up for the bad things I've done and what I could do to make you, your ma, and me happier. That's why we go to the park and do more things together, and why I quit my old job. And since my grumpy ol' boss was like my dad, I thought I'd make a new shop for him." He paused. "For both of us."

Julie understood the depth of her father's words and smiled. "I like it."

Seymour was satisfied with her answer, and he let his mind travel to his little flower store as he and Julie got back into the car and drove to the doughnut and coffee shop down the street so that Seymour could keep stalling Julie for her surprise. _Everything's gonna' be okay now this time, _he thought._ I can feel it._

* * *

"They make some good doughnuts, huh?" Seymour asked his little girl as he drove the car up into the driveway of their house at noon.

"Uh-huh." Julie agreed. "Do ya' think Mama will let me have some cake now?"

"Maybe, we'll just have to wait and see." Seymour answered, concealing something. "Help me get these groceries outta' the car, will you Julie girl?"

Julie nodded and slumped a plastic bag over her shoulder as if it were a pack to take inside. While she was trudging across the lawn with the bag, she noticed that the lights were all off inside her house, as if no one was home. It did not strike her as odd then, but if she had been in a clearer state of mind about what particular day it was, she might have guessed why the lights were shut off. When she entered the house, she found the air near silent as her father followed her close behind.

"Ma? We're back, Ma," she called into the darkened house. "Hello?"

Suddenly the lights flickered back on and Julie heard kazoos sounding before her mother popped up from behind the sofa. Her father stood behind her, holding a green kazoo in one hand and a paper party hat in the other. Streamers were hanging up on the walls of a multitude of color, as if they were made of cake frosting. It all made sense then; the lights, the stalling with the same old shop, her mother not wanting to give her cake in the morning. They were throwing her a party. She had no time to speak as her parents both declared, "Happy birthday!" and began to sing together:

"_Happy birthday to you_," sang her father.

"_Happy birthday to you_," crooned her mother in a sweet voice.

Then the couple took a deep breath and sang together in musical harmony, "_Happy birthday, dear Julie. Happy birthda-a-ay…"_

Without warning came a trio of kazoo sounds, and Julie whipped her head in the direction of the kitchen to see three African American women wearing bright sunflower colored dresses standing there with their kazoos.

The trio smiled before they sang together with Seymour and Audrey, _"Ooh-ooh, to yo-o-ou."_


	2. Gifts

_**Through Julie's Eyes**_

**Chapter Two: Gifts**

Julie grinned and gasped. "Auntie Crystal! Auntie Chiffon! Auntie Ronnette!" she said excitedly and ran over to give the trio a hug. The women were Julie's adopted family from New York City, and she enjoyed visits with them immensely.

The shortest, but seemingly strongest, of the three named Chiffon smiled. "Uh-huh; in person."

"The ones and only!" finished Crystal with excitement.

"What are ya' doing here?" Julie asked them.

"We wouldn't miss your birthday, honey," Ronnette said warmly.

"When we told them about your birthday, they came all the way from the city to visit," Audrey told her daughter as she and her husband came forward.

"Yeah, we told you we'd come by soon in that last phone call." chuckled Chiffon.

"-Had to come bug you all sometime," added Crystal.

"Well, we all appreciate it," Audrey replied, and then looked to Julie. "So, ready to get the party started?"

"Yeah!" Julie exclaimed with a smile.

"Great then." She turned to Seymour. "Honey, could you turn on the radio to something good while I get out the snacks?"

"Sure," Seymour answered his wife and started toward the living room. "Nice seeing you girls again."

"You too, Seymour," said Ronnette for the three of them. She and her friends followed Audrey into the kitchen and dining room area as the music started to play. The tunes made them sway slightly to the beat, chatting amongst themselves.

"I told you, some a' those people next door were looking at me all funny," muttered Chiffon to Crystal. "Just 'cause I'm not white doesn't mean I don't have a right to be here too."

"Some people forget we're not livin' in the fifties anymore," Crystal said and shook her head. "At least we know Audrey and Seymour aren't like them."

"Hey, did we come here to talk about us or to be with them?" Ronnette interrupted and made her friends stop. They focused intently on Audrey who had been getting a vegetable and fruit dip tray out of the refrigerator and checking on something in the oven. At last, Ronnette interjected, "So, it's been awhile since we last saw ya, Audrey. What's going on with all of you?"

"Huh? Oh yes, it has been awhile," Audrey said calmly as she continued to put food out onto the table. "Sorry I couldn't call you up soona'. Things have just been a little crazy 'round here since Seymour quit his old job."

"Yeah?" Crystal asked while her friends started munching out of a bowl of chips. "What's he gonna do now then?"

Audrey smiled at her friends, and opened the oven to reveal a chicken baking. "Don't burn it… don't burn it…" she muttered to herself nervously before remembering that she was in the middle of a conversation. "He's opening his own flowa' shop here downtown. Calling it Mushnik and Son's for Mista' Mushnik."

"Oh yeah. That old man adopted him, huh?" Chiffon said while chewing her food. "Wow, that's a big change from… uh, what was he again?"

"He tried accounting. I think that's part a' what made him get funny back then; he just wasn't happy with his life," Audrey replied and finally sat down at the table across from her friends as the music grew louder in the other room. "-Lotsa' stuff's happening now. Julie's in first grade; that's real different."

"I'd bet it's different. Last time I saw her she was just a little four year old cutie," said Ronnette before looking at her friend again with a laugh. "And, what about you? Gaining a little extra weight there?" she joked.

Audrey looked back blankly, then chuckled and looked down at her stomach. "Oh_, that_."

"_Oh__** that**_?" mimicked all three girls before giving a small squeal-like sound.

"Audrey, that's great! Why didn't you tell us you and Seymour were havin' another kid?" asked Ronnette.

Audrey smiled and blushed faintly. "I guess I just forgot to mention it."

Crystal chuckled loudly at that remark. "So, when's this happening?"

"Near March or so. I'm at about three months now."

"How exciting!" Crystal exclaimed.

"Heh, I bet Seymour's nervous about it," Chiffon added.

"Oh, he's nervous, but he's really excited too. We always wanted to have a couple a' kids runnnin' around the place, so we figured we'd better have anotha' baby before Julie gets bigger and I get olda'"

"-And how about Julie?" Ronnette asked. "Did she take it well?"

"I think so," Audrey answered a little more quietly. "We told her last month when we knew that it was for sure. But I think it hasn't completely sunk in that she's going to be a big sista'."

"She'll be fine," replied Crystal with s smile. "After what she went through back on Skid Row, I think Julie can handle anything."

"Enough talking girls, let's give this poor mama a hug!" said Chiffon and her friends nodded. They all gave Audrey a tight hug and hummed faintly until Audrey nearly burned the chicken and ran to rescue it with a yelp. "Audrey's got a lot cookin' now, huh girls?" Chiffon concluded and gave Crystal a nudge on the shoulder.

"Mm-hm!" Crystal and Ronnette both agreed.

* * *

"Whas' inside Auntie Chiffon?" Julie asked Chiffon as she shook their present they had given her and a faint 'flump, flump' sound ensued.

"Don't shake it, honey!" Audrey interjected. "You could break it."

"Relax, Audrey," replied Chiffon. "She won't break anything."

Crystal smiled. "Come on, open it Julie!"

Julie nodded excitedly and tore at the wrapping paper, finding a thin cardboard box underneath. She lifted the lid off gingerly before finding the red knit inside. A sweater read "NYC" in big blue letters along with a red and white striped scarf. After reading the sweatshirt, Julie's eyes widened. She had not been to New York City since she was four years old (and it turned had out to be quite a scary trip for her), but she still enjoyed hearing stories about her parents and her aunts who were all former New Yorkers. Anything from the city was magnificent.

"Gee…" She muttered, dumbfound.

"We saw the sweater and scarf at this one street vendor's cart last Christmas." Said Ronnette.

"We wanted to give it to ya then, but it wasn't easy finding time to come up here," added Chiffon.

Audrey smiled wide as her daughter put on the sweater. "Here honey, lemme' help you put this scarf on…" She reached over and wrapped the scarf around her daughter's neck. "There we go. Aw, doesn't she look great, Seymour?"

"Yeah, like a real tourist," Seymour joked as Julie went to the bathroom mirror to look herself over.

"Oh, stop it," Audrey said and gave her husband a playful slap on the arm. "I think it looks adorable on her. What do you think, Julie?" she called.

"I like it!" Julie exclaimed and ran back into the room. "Thanks so much, aunties!"

Crystal, Chiffon, and Ronnette smiled again. "No problem, honey," Crystal said.

Julie's parents looked to each other before Audrey stood up. "Okay, you've got anotha' present from us this year, but you have to come out to the garage."

_What would they hide in the garage? _Julie wondered with her father and the girls following behind her. When they opened the door to the garage, Audrey stood out of the way before flipping the light switch on and Julie stared at the sight in front of her. There in the garage, with ribbon wrapped around the handlebars, sat a shiny red bicycle.

"Wow," the six-year-old girl finally mumbled.

"Do you like it, Julie?" asked Audrey as her daughter walked over to the gift to inspect it, as if to see if it was real or not.

"Uh-huh," Julie muttered in response. "Thanks Mama, thanks Daddy."

Both of her parents grinned. "Now you can toodle around on this instead a' using a trike or walking all the time," said her father. "It's pretty handy."

"But I don't know how to ride a bike, Dad," Julie replied.

"That's what the training wheels are for," he answered. "Ya use them until you're ready to ride with two wheels."

"Oh, okay," Julie said and gained a beggar's look. "Can I try it now?"

Audrey and Seymour looked at each other with a shrug. "Sure," squeaked Audrey while Seymour opened up the garage door to the driveway. "Just stay near the front yard where we can see you, okay?"

Julie nodded before hopping onto the bike seat and trying on the new helmet that came with it. She gripped the handle bars and took in the soft plastic at her fingertips for a moment before moving her legs forward and steering herself past the car and onto the driveway. She shouted, "Whee!" before rocketing forward in a sudden burst of energy.

Her parents smiled as they watched their daughter. "I think she's gonna' like it," Audrey commented and kissed Seymour's cheek.

"Anybody up for making this a real party?" asked Ronnette when they all went back inside the Krelborn house. "We've only got today to spend here before going home, and I think we need to congratulate a couple a' parents to be." Crystal and Chiffon chuckled at her remark about Audrey's pregnancy.

"You told them?" Seymour asked his wife who nodded. "Well, I'm all for a little party of our own. You Audrey?"

"Sounds good to me," said Audrey. "But I shouldn't drink much. I'm having a baby you know."

"That's a good mom there," Crystal smiled at her words.

"I'll get the wine for us and some grape juice for you." Chiffon said before getting Seymour to help find and serve their drinks. Once they had their glasses all set, she raised her glass before declaring, "To Audrey!"

"To Seymour!" added Ronnette before lifting her hand as well.

"To Julie!" blurted Crystal.

"And to the baby," said Chiffon.

"Yeah, to the baby!" added her friends before they clanked their glasses together with Audrey and Seymour's and everyone drank a sip.

The Krelborn couple smiled, happy and proud. "Thank you," replied Audrey for the two of them before she looked out the window and watched her daughter playing on her bicycle. Her hand seemed to gravitate over her belly, and she thought about Julie. _She has no idea how much things are going to change soon._

_***_

The party quieted after long hours of catching up and bonding between the Krelborns and their extended family. Audrey chattered almost endlessly with Crystal, Chiffon, and Ronnette, as she did with any other female friend, but she spent just as much time listening to the trio's stories about back on Skid Row. Seymour occasionally joined in on their small talk, though after awhile it seemed to be little more than girl gossip to him and he bided his time by slowly munching down the party food. Julie seemed distracted throughout the party, talking with the girls here and there while also admiring her new clothes. When the radio's song changed to something she liked, she would dance about and giggle uncontrollably.

"Be careful," Audrey said sternly to Julie when she nearly knocked down a photograph on the top shelf. "That's the good picture I have of your grandmama."

After that, Julie began to tire out quickly so there was little energy left in her for rough housing anyway. She made her birthday cake wish and, of course, was tested with the "what did you wish for?" question. Thankfully, she knew that if she answered her wish would never come true, so she kept quiet. When the sun began to set, Crystal, Chiffon, and Ronnette left to go to their hotel after saying their goodbyes and such. Julie was deeply saddened at their departure and begged them not to leave at the door.

"Don't worry," Crystal consoled the sad little girl.

"We'll be back," Chiffon added.

"You can count on it, honey," Ronnette said with a nod.

At last, the day, the guests, and the party left, and the little family could go to sleep. After some basic clean up and such, everyone changed into their pajamas and went to their bedrooms for a good night's rest.

Julie sat in her room, reading over an old Cinderella picture book of hers with a satisfied grin remaining from her birthday party excitement. She was half ready to fall asleep at nine thirty when a knock came on her door. "Julie girl, I know it's late, but I need to talk to you real quick," Seymour's voice supplemented for the knocking.

She sat up upon hearing her father's voice. "Okay, Daddy."

Her father entered the bedroom smiling with one hand behind his back. "Had a good party?" he asked her softly.

Julie yawned and rubbed her eyes. "Yep. Mama's cake was real good."

"The best," agreed Seymour, still keeping his hand behind his back. "Hey, listen. I've got a present for ya' tonight."

Julie sat up straight in her spot. "What is it, Daddy?"

Seymour chuckled faintly before moving his hand in front of him and revealing his gift so that his daughter could see. In his grasp was a small flowerpot with a little plant inside, just barely beginning to grow. Its tiny, flat leaves were a pale yellow green that reflected the plant's tender age, while the soil surrounding it was like a blanket warming a baby inside a crib. He handed it to Julie and waited patiently for her reaction.

"A plant?" the girl finally asked a bit skeptically.

"Not just any plant. This is a zinnia," answered Seymour only to be greeted with another quizzical look from his daughter. He sat down slowly on the foot of her bed. "It's sort of a right of passage. See, when I was just about your age, Mr. Mushnik took me in. He told me that if I wanted to work for him I'd have to learn how to take care a' the plants, so he gave me my first plant. It was a zinnia, like this one." He took a deeper breath before adding, "He said I would learn responsibility from taking care of it."

There was another pause before Julie asked, "You really miss him, don't ya Daddy?"

Seymour's smile sunk into a tightly pinched frown. "Yeah, I do miss him. He was like my dad, and I…I watched something terrible happen to him. I still feel awful about it."

Julie looked at her father sympathetically. "It's okay, Dad. It's not your fault."

Seymour sighed, still contemplating whether his former employer's death was his fault or not. "Well, maybe." His former composure returned. "Anyway, this plant is for you to take care of. It's a family present that I'm passing on to you."

His daughter looked back down at the little plant in her lap and frowned. "-But Dad, I'm not good with plants like you," she said and began to pass it back to her father. "Maybe you better keep it."

"No, no Julie girl. I told ya', this is yours," he refused. "You just have to water it every day, make sure it gets some sunlight, and stays away from the cold. Other than that, all the magic is already inside the plant." Then he patted his daughter's back. "Hey, I didn't think I could work with plants either when my dad gave me my first one, but you never know what can happen 'till you try."

Julie looked back down at her little plant, then back up at her father who was halfway out the door. "G'night, Daddy."

Seymour poked his head back through the doorway one more time that night and said, "G'night, Julie girl."

After her father left, Julie yawned and placed her new present in the window where she knew there would be sunlight in the morning. She thought over her father's words and decided that she might at least try to take care of the plant since he seemed so trusting about giving it to her. Rover walked over to her bedside and whimpered until she scratched his scraggly head. Soon after, Julie pulled the covers up to her chin and clutched her old, stuffed rabbit with its ragged plush fur, a chipped button eye, and a tire track mark imprinted on its left ear. The toy was her comfort and friend, the only one she knew that she could access anywhere. At last, with the moonlight beaming through the window, Julie switched off her bedside light, watching the faint silver gleam reflect off the zinnia's rounded baby leaves before falling asleep.


	3. Better and Worse

**_Through Julie's Eyes_**

**Chapter Three: Better and Worse**

Three weeks passed by quickly that October in Greenville. It was nearing Halloween and pumpkins and such spooky décor decorated the little tract houses along with nature's carpet of yellowish leaves that had begun to fall on every lawn. Because Seymour Krelborn was the primary gardener of his family, the leaves annoyed him immensely. Audrey Krelborn tried to laugh when her husband would grumble about how horrible the leaf litter was everyday, but after awhile it was no longer amusing. She bided her time by taking care of their house, as usual, and making autumn wreaths from the leaves that her husband didn't toss into the backyard compost pile. She hoped that by Thanksgiving Seymour's shop would be open and perhaps he could sell them; that would make it a sort of family business as she would make part of his supply and he would sell it. Even if this did not work out, she would continue her own floral consulting and sales that had gotten them by while her husband had not brought home bacon. Working at the flower shop on Skid Row had given her a skill with flowers that she wanted to continue.

It was on an uneventful day at home alone with Julie outside playing on her bike that the telephone rang faintly in the kitchen. Audrey, finding herself rather wrapped up in making a complicated wreath, half-jumped at the sound before rushing to pick up the phone.

"Hello?" Audrey asked sweetly.

"Hello. Is this Mrs. Krelborn?" asked an older woman's voice on the phone.

"Yes it is."

"Oh good, I was worried I might not be able to reach you. This is Ms. Straegle, your daughter's teacher."

"Oh, I haven't talked to you since the first day a' school," Audrey commented somewhat absent-mindedly. "Nice catchin' up with you."

"Yes," Ms. Straegle agreed rather solemnly. "Listen, Mrs. Krelborn, I have something to tell you about your daughter Julie."

Audrey's heart leaped in her chest with those words. Ever since the incident in the city when Julie was kidnapped and suffered a broken arm she was particularly protective of her. "Oh God, she didn't get hurt or somethin'?"

"No, no, Mrs. Krelborn. Julie's fine. Well, physically speaking."

"Oh my. She's not having any trouble in school, is she?"

That was another thing Audrey feared. She had never been the brightest of people and she hoped that her daughter would not struggle in school or have any sort of intellectual handicap like her.

"Oh no, no, no. Julie's a very bright girl, Mrs. Krelborn," said Ms. Straegle. "But there is something that's made me a little concerned about her."

"Well, what?" Audrey asked with a small, anxious yelp.

"It's nothing to be alarmed about, really, but your daughter seems to have a little bit of trouble making friends," Ms. Straegle concluded.

"What d'ya mean by that exactly?"

Ms. Straegle seemed to catch Audrey's protective, maternal tone and spoke more softly. "I'll try to explain. Julie has had some trouble finding friends this year. She likes to stay in the classroom at lunch because the boys pick on her a lot, and I just don't see her talking to many of the other kids."

Audrey lightly clenched her fingers around the phone. She remembered, even at age six, being called "Blondie" and other such things by the neighborhood boys to demean her. She did not respond, but continued to listen to the teacher until their phone conference ended.

"So, what I'm suggesting to you is try to make your daughter find a friend. I know that she's shy, but I think a friend would help her. You understand?"

"Yes," Audrey replied rather sadly.

At that moment, Seymour walked in through the front door and heard his wife talking on the phone. He waved at their daughter riding her bicycle on the sidewalk behind him, but stayed quiet while his wife was talking.

"I'll see what I can do," Audrey said.

"Good. It was nice chatting with you Mrs. Krelborn," said Ms. Straegle in a bit more of a chipper mood.

"You too. Goodbye," Audrey answered.

"-Bye." Then the phone line clicked and hummed faintly in a soft dial tone before Audrey hung up.

"Who was that?" Seymour asked as he walked into the kitchen.

"Julie's teacha'."

"Oh," he remarked simply, then thought about it. "What did she say?"

Audrey's smile flickered downward for a moment. "She says Julie's been havin' some trouble with the otha' kids. That she's always playing by herself."

"Is that all?"

"Well, sure if you wanna' look at it that way. But Seymour darling, doesn't it concern you at least a little?"

"Not really. It's up to her to make friends, not us."

"But Seymour, think how lonely she must be at school. Come to think of it, she's neva' told me about a friend or wanted to go play eitha'." Audrey shook her head and looked out the front window at Julie riding her bicycle. "My poor baby."

"Look Audrey, I didn't have any friends when I was six either. Maybe Julie just takes after me," Seymour argued.

"You were different from her. You were all alone," countered his wife in an unexpectedly harsh manner. Audrey recognized her error with her husband's frown and attempted to make up for it. "I'm sorry honey, I didn't mean it like that."

"Don't worry about me. You're probably right, but I still think that we have other things to worry about," Seymour replied, still looking away from her.

"Like?"

"Like the shop. I'm still not making any money, Audrey."

"We're getting by just fine, honey."

"Well, sure, we're okay for now, but pretty soon the house payments will get higher, and then there's the baby too," said Seymour.

"Seymour, Seymour," his wife sighed. "This baby's not coming for awhile, but if we're still in trouble by then we'll think a' something." Then she gently rested a hand over a tiny bulge on her stomach that was now showing. "No need to get worried."

"You're so optimistic. Maybe it's a female thing," Seymour sighed.

"And you're always acting like a worry wart. Maybe it's a guy thing," Audrey replied and kissed him on the cheek. "We've had our ups and downs before and things always turn out okay in the end, you'll see. I know your shop's gonna be a success. You put all your heart into it."

At last Seymour smiled and gave his wife a hug. "I can't win with you. I tried to tell you that havin' another baby right now would only be trouble, but you didn't listen."

Audrey laughed and broke away from the hug. "You lia'. You seemed all right with the idea back when I suggested it. So that's it then? You wanted ya fun with me but didn't think things through about the actual baby?"

"Ah, c'mon Audrey you know I'm just joking. Of course I want to have the baby. Then we'll have two great kids, like a big family." He smiled and watched his wife as she sat down and started writing frantically. "What are you writing anyway?"

Audrey looked up at him shortly, then back down at her paper. "-Anotha' letta' to Mama. I haven't even told her about this baby yet."

Seymour tiptoed closer to her and said quietly, "Audrey, she's never replied to any of your phone calls, telegrams, or letters. I don't think she'll answer now."

His wife's hand froze momentarily before she sighed and continued scribbling words. "She's neva' returned any of my letta's eitha'. At least that means she's getting them. I just wish she would reply. I miss her so much."

"After saying that you were worthless all your life and she's never replied to any of your letters you've sent her since we got married, I just don't see how you can miss her," Seymour replied and put his hand on his wife's shoulder.

"And after all that time I watched Mista' Mushnik being so mean to you, I don't know why you still want to call him Dad, but you do. I think that's what makes us meant for each otha'. We've got big hearts for even the worst people, and even more love to give afta' that."

"For the worst except Orin," commented Seymour with contempt about his wife's former boyfriend. "I didn't give him much of a chance after I saw him hit you like that."

Seymour blamed himself for the death of Audrey's former boyfriend Orin when he asphyxiated from inhaling laughing gas, and Seymour watched him die that very night. Audrey would not let her husband slip into another depressed stupor like the one that she had watched him go through not even two years before.

"There was nothing anyone could do," Audrey answered with compassion. "I did care about him back then, and that's why I couldn't leave him, so it wasn't like he neva' was loved," said Audrey.

Seymour smiled at her. "I'm just glad you're okay. Nobody should hurt you. I'd never hurt you."

Audrey leaned her head back and looked into Seymour's eyes. "I know that," she said quietly before letting him kiss her faintly on the lips.

Once their conversation had ended, Audrey felt both better and worse than before. Seymour's calm affections and demeanor had put her at ease, but what he had said about her letter worried her. Would her mother reply? Were her efforts to communicate with her mother as futile as trying to make a good boyfriend out of a sadistic dentist? She hesitated to write another word, but she continued after finding the little hope she had left. Then she finished writing and read over the letter before putting it inside a white envelope and filling out the address to Skid Row. It read:

_Dear Ma,_

_It's great talking to you again after summer. Well, it's happened. Remember how in that last letter I mentioned that Seymour wanted to open up his own flower shop? Well, it's happened! Seymour's shop is going to open in a week, and I'm already working on wreaths for him. I'll send you a picture of the shop with this._

_I know I should've told you sooner, but there's more big news, Mama. I'm pregnant! Seymour and me decided we would see what would happen and if we would end up having another baby, and I guess you could say Lady Luck came and found us. Can you believe it? I guess we'll be adding another member to the family tree in five months. It's so exciting! _

_Julie's 6th birthday was three weeks ago by the way. She just loves her new bicycle and rides it around everyday. I wish you could meet her, Ma. She's so big now, and she and Seymour really want to see you. I'd love to show you the house._

_Love, Audrey_

_PS: Happy Halloween!_


	4. Halloween

_Author's Note: I have decided to update a little earlier than usual for you guys because I received three lovely reviews! Thanks PhantomBialystock, Skullstarwrites2, and Iluvpushingdaisies for the feedback on chapter three, and as for Ossiana of the BPRD and filmgrl, thanks for the love at the start! Everybody else sends virtual cookies, but you guys get virtual Twoeys, 'cause, well, I think I'm the only one who did that so far. Enjoy your extraterrestrial plants and this chapter!_

_*S. Snowflake

* * *

_

_**Through Julie's Eyes**  
_

**Chapter Four: Halloween**

*** * *  
**

Julie Krelborn spent this time going about her routine normally, but she was truly sheltered and alone. She drifted through days, lonely and frankly bored. At least Halloween would provide a distraction from her lonliness. It was fun to be just a little bit scary for one night, and she knew that nobody in her class would guess what her costume was. It was just too unique. She giggled in her small desk just thinking about it, imagining the fright they would have themselves if they saw her trick or treating. Maybe that would at least scare away the boys who called her names on every occasion possible.

"Class, we have a new student," announced Ms. Straegle on that October 30th. "Her name is Maggie, and she's come all the way from Levittown to live here in Greenville. Let's all give Maggie a big welcome. One, two, three…"

"Hello Maggie," came the synonymous ring from the class.

A girl walked into the room after the invitation of her classmates. She was of slightly larger build than Julie, but not too tall either. Her skin was fair, but had a bit of a darker coloration to it as well, reflecting a mixed background. Her chocolate eyes darted about the room, staring into everyone's faces, and her dark brown hair smoothly fell down to her shoulders. She appeared to be trying not to attract any attention, but absorbing all of the information that she could gather.

"Hi," she stuttered.

"Yes, Maggie. Why don't you take a seat next to, um…" Ms. Straegle looked around the room and her eyes seemed to light up when she saw the empty seat next to Julie. "Right over here next to Julie," she finished and led the girl over to the chair. "I'm sure you two will get along fine."

Julie smirked at her teacher's comment, but she hid it with a half smile and looked over at Maggie who was now occupying the empty space beside her. As Ms. Stragle began reading a book aloud to the class, the two girls kept glancing at each other. Both of them were inquisitive about their desk neighbor out of simple curiosity, and Maggie watched closely as Julie started doodling something on a folder of hers. It looked like a green octopus or some creature with tentacles, but it also had sharp, shark-like teeth. It made Maggie even more curious about her neighbor, and she felt compelled to ask what the creature was.

At last the bell rang and all the kids without a ride home ran out to board the school bus. Maggie, a member of the crowd, cautiously walked over to Julie in the back of the bus line and asked simply, "What did you draw back there?"

Julie looked up at Maggie for a moment before answering, "A monster."

"Oh," remarked Maggie. "What kinda' monster?"

"It's a plant," replied Julie as she and Maggie went inside the school bus.

"A _plant_?"

"Yeah, but it's not just a plant. It eats people!" Julie proclaimed.

"Oh, I never heard a' that," said Maggie with a slight accent and sat down next to Julie on the bus. "Whas' it called?"

"Audrey Two."

"Oh," replied Maggie before deciding to break the silence. "What was your name again?"

Julie looked up curiously, surprised that she was still actually talking to this girl. "Julie."

"I'm Maggie."

"I know. Ms. Straegle said so," Julie said with a smile.

"Oh yeah, huh?" Maggie said with a small laugh. "Are you dressing up for Halloween t'morrow?"

Julie's earthy green eyes seemed to glow for a minute before she replied, "Yeah, my mom made a great costume!"

"Me too. I'm gonna' be a ghost. What are you gonna' be?" asked Maggie.

"I can't tell you. I'd wreck the surprise."

"Oh, okay," Maggie replied. "Could'ja give me a hint?"

Julie grinned and said, "If you liked my picture, you'll like my costume."

Their conversation continued until the bus reached the familiar Sunshine St. stop and Julie knew that it was time to go home. She stood up and walked by Maggie, but not before saying goodbye politely. Before she got off, she stored the girl's name in her memory and waved to her newfound acquaintance through the bus window before it drove away from her and the other kids it had dropped off at this stop. She made the short walk home in good time, stepping through the white gate out front and onto the front lawn where Rover lied lazily under the tree. He perked his ears up and sniffed her shortly, smelling the scent of another child, and followed her past the pumpkins on the front porch and inside the house.

"Ma? I'm home, Ma," Julie called.

"I'm out back, honey," came Audrey's voice from the backyard. Julie followed her voice and found her mother pulling weeds from the earth in the garden. "You look excited," she remarked after glancing at her. "Ready for trick-a'-treating tomorrow?"

"Yeah!" Julie answered with excitement. "Everyone's gonna like my costume."

* * *

"I can't believe you let her dress up as that… _thing_!" Seymour yelped the following evening, nearly knocking off the fake eye patch and pirate hat that made up his costume. He was watching his daughter walk into the living room wearing a green shirt, green painted tube vines for hands, and a homemade foam pod-like mask on her head.

"It was what she wanted," replied Audrey to her clumsy, pirate-clad husband. Her voice provided a stark contrast to her somewhat rugged and dark (but admittedly attractive), pirate lass costume. "And besides, she's not really Audrey Two."

"Feed me, Daddy!" Julie said and tried to growl like the monster plant that her father had told her so much about. Despite her age and gender, the impersonation was somewhat chilling simply because of the familiar words 'feed me'.

Seymour smirked. "We'll see. Why don't you go and check on the jack-o-lanterns and see if they're still glowing?"

Audrey's green eyes seemed to glisten with pity under her dark make up as her daughter ran out the front door. "Come on Seymour honey, don't be like that. If anything, it just shows how much she loves about us."

"It's still something I'd prefer to leave in the past, Audrey. I don't want to honor that-that _monster _in any way," he said solemnly, opening up a bag of candy for trick-or-treaters. "And I don't want Julie to think what I did was okay."

"Jack-o-lanterns are fine, Dad," came Julie's voice as the plant girl stepped back inside the house.

"Great," replied her mother and stepped forward. "If you've got everything we can head out, Julie."

"Oh boy!" Julie exclaimed and clutched her pillowcase, ready for the candy to come.

Audrey smiled at her little green girl and then gave Seymour a look that said, _Come on and at least smile at that._ He agreed silently and smiled along.

"Goodbye my sweet captain Seymour," Audrey said to her husband and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Oh, and make sure you don't lose your glasses like you did last year, honey," she reminded him as she escorted her daughter out the front door and onto the lawn.

"No need to tell me. You weren't the one who had to go asking every neighbor if they found a pair of glasses in their kid's candy bag the next day!" He smiled then and began to play his role of the pirate. "Farewell, me Audrey gal, and me plant daughter Julie too. Arg!"

Audrey and Julie giggled at his clumsy attempt at acting after they were free of the gate. Julie began to sprint with the faint twilight glow of the sky illuminating her path. Her foam tendrils smacked the fence posts as she went, and Audrey eventually had to tell her to stop running for both the neighbors' and her own sake as she was having trouble keeping up with Julie. Julie chattered with her mother excitedly while also sneaking a piece of candy or two into her mouth after she had collected some of her sweet loot. She asked what Halloween was like on Skid Row, and her mother tried to say something, but visibly shivered and said simply, "It was different from here."

"Did you ever go trick-a'-treating with grandmamma?" she asked.

Audrey paused and answered, "No, I didn't."

Julie kept quiet after her mother's unusually glum response, and continued to run up to the doors and beg for candy. Her unusual costume got some questioning remarks from the adults and kids that spotted her, but she paid very little attention to them. She was too proud and joyful to care about what other people thought of her costume. It was only when a woman slightly taller than her mother walked ahead of them with three children at her side did she realize that she might be recognized.

"Whoa, is that you Julie?" asked a familiar voice from behind a ghost costume.

Julie opened up her pod mask and tilted her head to the side. "Maggie?"

As the ghost came closer with its mother, Audrey and Julie stopped. The ghost child pulled back the sheet concealing her face to reveal, sure enough, Maggie. "Sure am! Wowie, you weren't kiddin' about the costume!"

Julie's mother tapped her shoulder. "Julie, do you know her?" she asked.

"Yes, Mama. This is Maggie," Julie breathed. "She's from L-Leveetown."

"Levittown?" asked Audrey and looked to the woman who appeared to be Maggie's mother. "Fancy place."

"Well, it's not too bad I guess," replied Maggie's mother. "Is this the Julie you told me about?"

"Uh-huh," replied Maggie to her mother and her apparent siblings; an older boy dressed up as a cowboy and a younger boy dressed like a pumpkin. "She's a big plant that eats people!"

"Oh… so she is," Maggie's mother replied and glared at her eldest child who was laughing, then back at Audrey. "Where are my manners? I'm Hailey Harris, and this is my brood Mark, Maggie, and Jody," she said and extended her hand.

"I'm Audrey Krelborn, and Julie's my only one," Audrey answered and shook the hand. "Glad to see our girls know each otha'."

"Yes. Maggie just needs to make some new friends here," Hailey smiled at her daughter shortly before speaking again. "Well, nice meeting you two."

"You too," Audrey said politely as the Harris family walked away. "And Happy Halloween!"

"See ya' later, Julie!" called Maggie.

"Bye," Julie replied and noticed that her mother seemed to be beaming a thoughtfully. "What?" she asked.

"Oh, nothin'," Audrey replied with a grin before her smile lit up like a child's. "Come on, let's find you some more candy t'night! The sea's ripe fer a' plunderin' candy!" she squeaked in a poor pirate impression and tried to run ahead of her daughter. "Bet ya' can't catch me!"

"Hey, no fair! I can't run in this, Mama!" Julie cried and skipped ahead of her mother again, laughing and falling under the spell of the night. She failed to notice that the smile on her mother's face had barely changed since their meeting with Hailey and Maggie Harris, and certainly did not know what she had in mind for her. For now, the only thing that the harvest moon and the chilly air promised was a momentary opportunity to pretend and some sweet treats for a few weeks of enjoying. Those things were all that mattered alone.


	5. Mushnik & Son's

_Author's Note: Four reviews for one chapter! That's a new record!! I love you reviewers. You keep me going on this project. Here begins the plot twist introduced to me by my mother on one of our nights when we talk about projects while eating at a local Mexican food place. Don't ask why though, it's one of my quirky family things. Also, the new character's name is supposed to have an accent mark on the end since it's French (and kudos if you know what the word means), but I couldn't get it to work. It's supposed to sound like "ae", okay?_

_Merci et bon lit! (Thanks and good reading!)  
_

_*S. Snowflake_

* * *

_**Through Julie's Eyes**_

**Chapter Five: Mushnik & Son's**

"This is it! This is it!" Seymour repeated to himself as he held the trembling key out to the lock of his new shop. It was the grand opening of Mushnik & Son's Greenville Florists, and Seymour Krelborn was more nervous than ever about it.

"Come on honey. No need to kill ya' self with excitement," his wife grumbled, standing beside him in the chilly morning air with their daughter Julie at her side. "It's easy, you just go in and turn on the neon."

"B-but, what if I've forgotten something? You know I'm terrible at remembering things, Audrey," Seymour stuttered.

"You've got the stock?"

"-Check."

"You've got ya' lunch?"

"-Check."

"You've got the keys?"

Seymour dangled the keys from his fingers. "-Check."

"-And you've got the Audrey," she said and patted his back. "Now come on. Rememba' your dad?"

Seymour stopped and stared up at the gold writing _Mushnik and Son's_ on the glass. "Yeah. My dad…" He looked back at his daughter who was simply smiling at him and nodded before turning the key in the lock. He stepped faintly on the linoleum, as if he might disturb something sleeping inside, then he reached over to the neon OPEN sign in the window and turned the light knob. With a small flicker and a buzz, the sign glowed bright yellow and blue, and Seymour stopped for a moment simply to stare at it.

He stood, frozen like that, before turning around to his wife with a childish grin. "I did it! I-" He paused and looked to his family and then out the window at the clouds high above in the sky. "-_We_ did it!"

Audrey snuck up behind her husband and kissed his cheek. "I'm so proud of you, honey. You got ya' wish." She looked around the shop. "Let's celebrate togetha'."

"Aw, you know I'd love to, but I've got a shop to run now. We'll party at Denny's tonight, 'kay hon?" Seymour answered his wife who pouted slightly.

"Oh boy, Denny's!" Julie chirped with enthusiasm.

Seymour walked past his girls and out the door with a proud grin on his face. "'Mushnik and Son' is now open!" he declared as his boss had done back in the days when Audrey II had made the original shop a success.

"_Get your little green moneymaker back up to the shop, Seymour," _he remembered Mr. Mushnik calling down into the basement for him. And as soon as that clever, remarkable plant would be placed in the window by Seymour's heavily bandaged hands, Mr. Mushnik would cry that same cry and attract a new batch of customers to the shop to look at the Audrey II and inevitably buy flowers. The proclamation was an advertisement as well as simply a matter of giving good luck to the new day, and Seymour would continue his father's tradition in his own flower shop.

Julie noticed that her father was smiling a particularly wide smile that spread nearly from ear to ear. It was profoundly happy, and it made her feel happy too… happy and confused about why exactly her father was so very happy.

* * *

"Ma, Dad, I'm getting bored," Julie Krelborn complained in the back room of the shop as they both dealt with a customer in the main room.

Seymour poked his head in the back and saw that his daughter was sitting impatiently at the worktable. It had been nearly eight hours of waiting for her parents to close the store, and she had read through her picture books nearly two times over, so he could sympathize a little bit with her boredom. "Sorry Julie girl, but I've got to help this one customer, then we go home."

Julie looked over at the wall with a scowl. "Fine."

Seymour half smiled at her, then went back into the shop and helped his wife at the counter who was handing over three autumn wreaths to a customer with great care not to drop them.

"Let's see, that'll be… um, oh gosh, it's been so long since I had ta' do this…" she muttered from behind her creations.

"Three wreaths and one boutonnière will cost you thirty-two-fifty," Seymour calculated for his wife. She looked at him with a sad and grateful look in her tired eyes before taking the cash from the customer and ringing up the receipt.

"Thank you for ya' support," she said genially.

"No, thank you, ma'am," the customer replied and took his large load of wreaths out the door with a jingle of the bells and disappeared into the evening again.

Audrey sighed deeply, exhausted from the long hours of helping her husband with these first day's sales. Seymour hated seeing his family so tired, but he was bursting with enthusiasm and energy on the inside. "You okay?" he asked Audrey, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I just hope I don't have to keep doing this for too much longa' today."

At that moment the shop bells rang again and the door swung open quickly. The Krelborn couple whipped their heads in the direction of the door and then they saw her; a woman clad in a bright red dress with a great, bulgy purse tucked under her arm and spiked high heels scraping the ground with her steps. Audrey could not help but have a momentary flashback to her days back on Skid Row when she had worn rather risqué outfits that showed her skin like this woman. As she approached the counter with an oddly smug grin on her pretty face, Seymour too was reminded of Audrey in those days when they were coworkers at Mushnik's.

"Hi there," Audrey finally squeaked. "Can we help you?"

"Yes, I need to speak to the manager," the woman in red answered quickly and looked at Audrey quizzically because of her voice. "Should I assume that's you?"

Audrey and Seymour looked at each other and Audrey pushed her husband forward a step or two. "That'd be me, miss," Seymour replied.

The woman smiled at him and for a moment, light seemed to glow from her almost feline eyes. "Of course. Only a man as strong as you could build such a charming place as this and have such a… _charming_ assistant as well."

"Oh, well actually, I'm not his assistant," Audrey started. "I'm his-"

"But I really need to speak to you, Mr. Mushnik, I presume?" the woman asked.

Seymour smiled and laughed genuinely. "Mr. Mushnik was my dad, but I'm the son in Mushnik and Son. Name's Seymour Krelborn."

"Oh, Seymour, eh?" the woman repeated in a lower voice than she had started out with. "Cute name. Well, Seymour, I'm looking for a job around this town. Just off a' Manhattan actually."

"Really, you too?" Seymour said to the woman and shook her hand. "That's where we're from, Audrey and me I mean." He hugged Audrey close with his words.

"Oh," the woman's face seemed to contort a little with Seymour's gesture to Audrey. "Is she your girlfriend?"

"Actually, I'm his wife," Audrey stated proudly and huffed her chest a little. For some reason that she could not understand completely, Audrey felt compelled to compete somewhat with the woman over Seymour's attention.

"Oh," The woman replied and looked to Seymour with that same sly look. "I would've never guessed, you being so young and handsome." She smiled particularly wide at him and then handed him a paper. "Here's my resume. Whenever you have time for a job interview, give me a call. I'll be ready." She winked then and began to look around the store, observing the spare objects and flowers inside and muttered, "Very… last decade."

"Daddy, I wanna go home," Julie's voice came from the backroom before she walked out into the shop front. "Please?"

"Alright, alright," Seymour answered the young girl with a slight smile as he picked her up in his arms. He frizzed up her brown hair while Audrey kissed her cheek with their unique parental affections.

The woman seeking employment turned and appeared momentarily stunned by the fact that the Krelborns were actually parents of a six-year-old child.

"Guess you just got tired, huh Julie girl? It's been a long day," Seymour said with a small chuckle. He noticed the woman staring and spoke once more. "This is our daughter Julie."

"Oh, how nice…" the woman in red said and smiled smugly once again. "Funny, she doesn't look a bit like her mommy."

Audrey's fists lightly clenched at her words, but she grinned instead of releasing her anger. "Yes, she does look more like her fatha'. And I wouldn't have it any otha' way."

The new woman began to leave, but Seymour called one more thing out to her, "Wait, what is your name, Miss?"

"Marie Tombe'," she answered in her low tone. "But that's the old French version mumsy gave me. You can call me Mary T. if you want, or just Mary. Whatever you'd prefer, Seymour." Then with a sharp turn out the door, Mary T. left the building.

"Wonda' what tombe' means," Audrey growled. "I don't like that girl."

"Wow, check out her resume!" Seymour said, preoccupied with the print. "Worked for the East Side Wholesale Flower Trade Company with five years of floral experience! Where has she been all my life?"

_Probably screwing over any guy she can find with no brains,_ Audrey thought, but decided to play the idiot that she was known for all too well. "Ooh, who knows honey? And rememba', there will be lots of people lookin' for interviews otha' than her. Come on, let's go home please Seymour darling? I think I need to get some rest."

Seymour grinned and pulled his wife close. "Yeah, I could use some sleep too. You need rest after accomplishing a dream."

Audrey giggled and almost gave her husband a kiss, but then she felt something lightly nudge her belly. It surprised she and her husband both, but then they both grinned. "Did ya feel that? The baby kicked!" she squealed and hugged Seymour's shoulders.

_Who knows?_ she reconsidered as Seymour kissed her and they walked as a family out of the shop after shutting off the neon lights_. Maybe there's good in all this mess and I'm just overreacting to that girl._

Julie, though tired and distracted, noticed how the red neon light that read, "Show Your Love With Flowers" seemed to flicker just a little before her father switched it off and they headed out into the night where the stars were just starting to play.


	6. Dreams and Nightmares

_Author's Note: I'd like to reassure my readers that I haven't given up on this story, I just update it slowly. I've had a lot of distraction and emotional baggage added onto my plate in the last two weeks, so I didn't have time to go through my DocXs and revise my chapters. I am still working on this actively, since I have five more chapters after this already in their rough phase and I try to finish one new chapter a month, so hopefully this will get done._

_For my reviewers, I love you all. You're helping me get through one of my darkest hours._

_*S. Snowflake_

* * *

_**Through Julie's Eyes**_

**Chapter Six: Dreams and Nightmares**

_"Daddy, help me!" cried four-year-old Julie in the grasp of the brutish man. "Mama, Daddy!" she screamed._

_"Relax, kid," said the other smooth-voiced man who had tricked her in the first place. "Your dad'll be here soon. I called him a minute ago."_

"_I want my mama!" Julie yelled, struggling in her great predicament. There was a feeling of being forced into place, then a cloth was placed over her face: a gag. "I-van-my-mh-mh!" she mumbled underneath the gag. Her mouth came free once more, and she screamed loudly, "Daddy, where are you?" Receiving no reply, she panted, wheezing strongly as the sly man blew cigarette smoke into her face. She coughed and took another breath, choking as she continued to yelp, "Dad? Somebody, help…"_

_* * *_

Julie awoke with a gasp, breathing deeply from her asthma. It was that nightmare again: the one that brought her back to Skid Row. The nightmare that reminded her that she was only safe during the day when her imagination could not haunt her. Slowly, she sat up in bed and made her way to her parents' bedroom and tiptoed inside.

"M-ma?" she squeaked.

Audrey began to stir at her daughter's voice. "Julie, honey, it's afta' midnight," she said. "Please, try to get some sleep."

"But Mama, I…I had a bad dream again."

Audrey's eyes widened slightly and she mouthed the word, "oh." Seymour opened his eyes and yawned next to her and she nudged him faintly until he sat up. She turned on the light and patted the bedside. "Come here, baby."

Julie obeyed and walked to their bed, sitting on the corner where her mother had indicated.

"Was it that same one?" Audrey asked, knowing about the bad dream that came back occasionally.

Julie nodded. "I tried to change it, Mama, but nobody helped me."

Her mother tried to smile. "Don't forget, your daddy saved you, honey."

Julie cried a little tear then, largely from feeling ashamed. "I know, but… it looked real."

Audrey leaned over and wrapped her arms around Julie. "Shh… Let's just relax a little. Now, you rememba' when your dad had all those bad dreams, don't you? But he got ova' them, didn't you, honey?"

"That's right," Seymour said. "It took awhile, but I finally got over them."

"And we know how scary things were, but we're okay now, aren't we?" Audrey asked Julie sincerely.

"Y-yeah," Julie replied with a slow exhale, finally releasing her fear. "I'm sorry."

"Don't feel sorry, Julie girl," Seymour said.

"Everyone gets dreams, and everyone gets nightmares," Audrey said. "It's just part of life. Sometimes you think more than you want to think at night." She paused with a smile. "You okay now?"

Julie nodded, trying to stay calm.

Audrey noticed the falsehood of her actions and nodded at Seymour. "How about you stay with us tonight? I think everyone needs a little love after a nightmare."

At last, Julie truly smiled and crawled into bed with her parents. Seymour moved over from his spot a little bit, as Julie took her place between them. Audrey patted her back once before she added, "Thanks, Mom."

Audrey smiled and turned off the bedside light. "Anytime, sweetheart."

The room darkened considerably when the lights shut off, but moonlight still glowed through the window. Seymour fell back to sleep almost immediately, but Audrey and Julie both kept their eyes open for awhile longer, silently pretending to rest.

Julie's eyes traveled to her mother beside her as she studied her growing stomach. There was really a baby coming; she could deny it no longer. Her mother, who had always been a rather skinny woman, was now growing rounder in the middle. What would happen when her sibling arrived? Would the new child take all of the attention away? Would she like him or her? What would her brother or sister look like? She knew that these questions would be answered in only a matter of time, but she still thought things over considerably.

Audrey, meanwhile, was thinking about Julie. These reoccurring nightmares were the result of a traumatic event from two years past. On their trip to the city, Julie had been kidnapped. It was this terrifying memory that made Julie think such things in the middle of the night. Some things in life could never be completely remedied. Audrey reminded herself of that as she finally closed her eyes and drifted off into her own slumber.

* * *

_A little girl played in the streets, her blonde locks flying about in all the directions that the few gusts of wind that penetrated the buildings below them. She skipped happily, giggling when a lone yellow butterfly shortly perched on her hand. It stayed there loyally for awhile before flying off into the golden sunlight. The girl watched her fluttering friend until it was but a dot on the skyline and, finally, gone. Once she turned around though, the girl found a storm was fast approaching, and shivered shortly. It was only then she realized that she was truly alone._

_"M-mama?" she asked in her tiny, mouse-like voice, looking around her as if she were suddenly lost. "Mama, where are you?"_

_"Audrey…" whispered a faint, ghostly voice._

_"Sista'! Big sista', where are you, where's Mama?" the little girl asked again, running in the direction of the haunted voice that had rang inside her ears._

_"Audrey…" the voice whispered again._

_The girl kept running, dragging her feet down every alleyway and street in sight. Through the slums, she flurried but to no apparent avail. Every sidewalk, every building window, every fire escape even, was vacant. _

"_Wait, I'm here, don't leave me!" she screamed to the ghostly voice once more. _

_Then, suddenly, a car's tires screeched to a sudden halt ahead of the girl, and she stopped with a gasp._

_"I'm sorry ma'am, I didn't see her," came the man's voice who had driven the car._

_An older woman's voice joined in, tragic and almost deranged, "My Julia! My only daughta'…"_

_"Ma," said the little girl to her mother's voice. "I'm here, Ma. I really am!"_

_The figure of her mother turned her great back, and only muttered, "Worthless."_

_"M-mama?" muttered the little girl with tears in her eyes. "Mama, I'm so sorry. Mama, please, don't leave me!" _

_She began to cry again, louder and pounding her fists on the ground. __**I've got to change this**__, Audrey begged herself. __** I've just got to!**_

_And just as Audrey had said it, her dream did change. The little girl had now grown up into a tall, beautiful young woman. She was the Audrey that she had become after living through so much loss. She was so slim, so faint and frightened these days, but she was her own woman. She still had been through hell with living on Skid Row and having bad boyfriend after bad boyfriend, but that did not matter now. In the distant Skid Row street ahead, she saw Seymour, her love._

_"Seymour!" Audrey squeaked in her dream with a huge smile on her face. She began running toward him, arms open, ready to hold him tightly and tell him how much she cared about him. How happy she would be to just tell him what was in her heart._

_Delightfully, Seymour began to run too. He was coming straight toward her. It was going to be a big, romantic moment; Audrey just knew it. She closed her eyes one more time before she would leap and hug Seymour… _

_Then, when she opened her eyes, she saw that red dress. That hideous, horrible red dress was coming out of the corner of her eye. And who else was wearing that red dress but Mary T. That smug, gorgeous she-devil Mary T was gaining on her and running to Seymour. It did not matter. Seymour loved nobody but Audrey, and Mary T. would just vanish. That was just how it had to be. When she closed her arms, Audrey began kissing the air, as if it were Seymour, but once again opened her eyes to the sight of nothing in her arms._

_"Seymour?" she asked, looking around. He and Mary were nowhere in sight. "Seymour, where are you, honey?" She rounded a building corner and saw Seymour chasing after a red dress. "S-Seymour, it's me!" she managed to squeak._

_Seymour never turned around to look at Audrey. He just kept moving. _

_Audrey sat down on the ground and cried to herself, "I can't lose you too."_


	7. The First Snow

_Author's Note: I really hope that I haven't lost some people lately with this story. I know that I haven't updated for some time now. I'd just like you all to know that I haven't given up on this story, I just have lost some of my motivation lately. Fortunately, I do have an outline written out so that I can keep moving without losing the plot, I just don't have the heart to get into this one anymore. I hope things will turn around soon, but if not, then I'll just have to put this on autopilot and hope for the best. In the meantime, hope for some exciting new stuff in the other fandoms I work on, much needed revisions of my old stories, and another Little Shop of Horrors story in the works. Thanks for your understanding!_

_*S. Snowflake_

* * *

**Chapter Seven: The First Snow**

December snuck up fast on Greenville, and the frosts were the first signal of winter's fast approach. The air grew near frigid at nights, but it had not been cold enough to snow yet. Julie secretly wished that snow would come everyday. She loved snow play, and anything to distract her from her mother always talking about where the baby was going to sleep in was a comfort at this point. For some reason or another, it bothered Julie increasingly to think about her sibling's impending arrival. At this point, her mother's due date was less than four months away, so it was something to think about.

Julie's mother and father seemed tenser about things these days too. Her father was always talking about his shop in a rushed voice, as if he were afraid to talk about it. The only thing that seemed to make him stay afloat was his employee Mary T.

"She's brilliant", he often said; "the only person that could actually make a sale at Mushnik and Son's."

Yes, talking about Mary seemed to make him happier, but not Audrey. Julie often heard her mother mumble, "Mary, that little…" around the house after her dad would call home and complement the girl again. Of course, her mother never brought it up at the dinner table or during TV hour. No, that was family time, but she clenched her fists whenever Seymour said something about Mary while they were together.

There were ways to escape these pressures for a little while at least. Maggie was always very good at listening to Julie at school, and Julie's bicycle took her far enough away from the house for her to think alone. Visiting her father's store on the days when he picked her up from school was always a small treat in itself. It seemed that every time that she came to the shop, there were new plants and faces there. Currently, Mushnik & Son's was decorated for the holidays with a string of colored lights in the window and poinsettias all over the room in shades of snow white, sunny yellow, and blood red. It was funny that Seymour liked celebrating Christmas when a Jewish man had raised him, but his wife loved Christmas and so he joined her in the fun.

On a cold December 15th, Seymour and Julie came into the shop and hung up their coats on the back rack. "I'm back, Mary," he said and spotted a frequent customer. "Hi, Jake."

"Hiya' Jake, hiya Mary," Julie added.

"Hey, it's Julie Krelborn!" said the young man named Jake, returned with a smile from Julie.

"Hello Julissa," said Mary, coming over to the six-year-old.

"It's Julie," Julie and Jake corrected simultaneously.

"Oh right. Julie," Mary parroted them with a laugh, almost mockingly. "How's it going in kindergarten, sweetie?"

"It's first grade," they corrected again.

"Oh, how nice," Mary answered.

***

After closing time at Mushnik & Son's, Seymour and Julie returned home. It was starting to get dark now, but not too dark. The sky was largely covered in pale white clouds, full of what Julie was hoping was a bounty of fluffy, cool flakes. It was cold enough for snow, Julie could tell because she had to hug her yellow coat very tightly against her skin to keep warm. Why wasn't it here yet? Seymour ushered his daughter in the house first, teeth chattering and scarf pushed up against his exposed ears all the way.

"Hi, Ma!" Julie called into the kitchen where she could smell something cooking, but it did not smell home baked. She came inside to find her mother crouched over the oven, pulling out a TV dinner that looked something like deformed bread. Though frozen dinners were not uncommon in the Krelborn house, something didn't seem right about it. Julie decided to go back and sit on the couch with the dog, just listening a little bit.

Seymour came in after Julie left and spoke to Audrey. "Hey, honey. Had a good day?" he asked.

Audrey smirked but did not look up. "It was alright."

"Did you finish those arrangements yet?"

"No, I've been busy."

"Oh," said Seymour to his wife's blunt responses. "Well then, you ordered the second shipment of poinsettias, right?"

Audrey sighed. "Not yet."

"Audrey, I need those plants!" Seymour suddenly exclaimed. "They're the only thing keeping the firm stable these days."

"Why don't you get them ya'self?" Audrey snapped, turning with the tray in hand. "It's _your_ shop."

"But you said you'd help!"

"I said I _can_ help, not that I always will."

"Well fine, if that's how you want to be about it, I'll do it myself," Seymour retorted to his wife before going to the phone. The phone rang a few times shortly and then he said, "Hi Mary."

"_Mary_?" Julie heard her mother squeal under her breath. "What are you callin' her for? What, does she do the job betta' than me or somethin'?"

"Audrey, quiet, I'm talking about business."

"Ohh, I bet you are. I bet you talk to that girl all the time about 'business'," Audrey growled with air quotes.

Seymour ignored his wife's last statement and spoke to his employee. "Okay? You can order them in tonight? Great, then I'll send you… oh no, don't buy them yourself, I… you insist? O-okay, thanks. Bye," he said, and then turned to Audrey. "Now what were you saying, honey?"

"Oh, nothin'. Nothin' at all, otha' than you talking to Mary, Mary, Mary…"

"Wait just a sec. Are you jealous?" Seymour asked her with a small laugh.

"I-am-not-jealous! I'm just not as blonde as you think!" Audrey squeaked loudly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Seymour asked, agitated.

It was then that Julie decided to leave the living room and go into her own bedroom before it got to be too loud and frightening. Fights like this only escalated, and they were more commonplace these days. She knew the drill: duck and cover like an a-bomb was hitting the house. Rover followed, dragging his doggy feet along with faint swish-swishes as his fur brushed against the floor. Once Julie had closed the door, she sat on her bed and Rover rested his head in her lap.

"It's okay boy, it'll be over soon. They just-hey!" she squealed as she looked out the window at snowflakes falling down all around outside. The little puffs of white came down gracefully, like something from a Christmas movie. "Look! It's snowing! It's snowing!" she opened her door again. "Ma, Dad, it's snowing! It's…" then she paused, realizing that they were still in a fight.

"-You don't understand the pressure of having your own business, Audrey!"

"Oh, I don't unda'stand? Do you know what it's like to stay here all day takin' care of this house and worrying about Julie and the baby all the time?"

"I know about my family too!"

"Oh really, Seymour? Because I don't think you do! Since you opened that shop a' yours you've spent less time around here. How do I know if somethin' funny isn't happening behind my back?"

Julie decided to close the door with that comment by her mother. "Well, at least we know it's snowing, Rover," she said, and looked over at her zinnia in the window with its leaves almost sticking to the frosty pane. She knew that cold weather was not good for anything, human, animal, or plant.

"Here. I'll warm you up," she told the plant, and put it under the bed where the air was draft-free, gently patting its leaves on the way. "You'll be okay," she said, finding Bunny and hugging him tightly. "We'll be okay."


	8. Christmas

_Author's Note: This is the longest chapter so far. Also, this may be about the last time the story seems really happy for a while. It will still be seen through a childish point of view, but things will only go downhill from here. I hope you like the holiday theme too!_

_*S. Snowflake_

* * *

**_Through Julie's Eyes_  
**

**Chapter Eight: Christmas**

That first snow was soon followed by two smaller storms, and the town of Greenville was so blanketed in snow that it should have been called Puffville or Whiteville. In almost every front window on Sunshine Street was a Christmas tree and lights were on almost every roof, making a sort of grand entrance for nighttime drive home that glittered on the ice crystals below. Julie Krelborn, like most children, was excited about the upcoming holiday and break. She hoped that things could go smoothly between her mother and father. The prospects of hot, fresh sugar cookies made by her mother, snowy days where her family could all play together, and presents from Santa Claus all made the thought slip away.

"So, what'd you ask Santa for?" Julie asked her friend on the bus ride home. It was the last day of school before holiday break.

"A new pogo stick," Maggie said with a grin, showing a bare spot in her mouth where a tooth had once been. "I also asked for my front teeth,"

"Santa can do that?"

A boy named Billy in front of them turned around. "Santa can't do anything girls, 'cause he's not real."

"You're lying," Maggie retorted. "Last year I saw his reindeer on our roof!"

"Oh yeah?" Billy mocked. "What'd they look like?"

"Brown and fuzzy, like in the cartoons," Maggie said. "Say, isn't Rudolph on tonight?"

"Yeah!" Julie replied, and then mimicked the television in its jingle, "See the amazing adventure of Rudolph tonight on… _N B C_."

Billy smirked. "Weirdo girls."

Maggie stuck out her tongue back. "Stupid boys."

When the bus stopped on Sunshine, Julie stood up and prepared to leave. "You'll come over, right?"

Julie turned slightly, looking at her friend's pleading face. "Um…" She wanted to say that she was busy, but that would have been a lie. "Okay, I'll ask my Ma."

Maggie smiled as Julie and Billy walked out of the bus. "See you then. Merry Christmas, Julie!"

"Merry Christmas, Maggie!" Julie replied and stepped off the bus.

The great yellow bus groaned and creaked before taking off again and rumbling down the road. Julie and Billy walked together for a while, side by side. Billy seemed to be thinking about something before he said, "I wouldn't go over to her house."

"Why not?" Julie asked.

"Cause she's not like us. She's part black ya know."

"What's the matta' with that?" Julie said with a curious expression on her face.

"Never mind," Billy answered and stepped through his front gate. "Merry Christmas, Julie. And uh, Happy Hanukah."

"Thanks," Julie replied, confusion in her voice as she pondered Billy's words. By the time that she was at her house, her mind was racing. _Why would he say that? Is there something bad about Maggie? _This was strange to Julie, she had never thought of anything like that about other people before. She open the door with a hurried click and stood in the doorway.

Upon her daughter opening the door, Audrey looked over from the couch and smiled. "Hey Julie. You wanna watch some Christmas shows?"

"Okay," Julie replied and sat down next to her mother. Rover followed and lay down on the carpet at their feet. After staring at the black and white screen for a few minutes, Julie had forgotten Billy's comment and thought about the sugar cookies she smelled from the kitchen. "Hey Ma, are the cookies done?"

"Not yet. They need to cool down," her mother answered. "Did you have a good day?"

"Uh-huh. Got my snowman back, see?" She reached into her backpack and pulled out a paper snowman to show her mother. "And Maggie wants me to play at her house."

"Does she? Well, that's great! I'll call her mother and we'll set a date for you two."

"When's Daddy comin' home?"

"He should be here any moment now." At that moment, the doorknob clicked open and Seymour himself entered the house. Audrey muttered, "Well, I told ya."

"H-hel-l-o f-f-ami-l-ly-y," Seymour said with his teeth chattering and his glasses lightly moving up and down on the bridge of his nose.

"Hiya Daddy," Julie replied.

"Sheesh, is it really that cold?" Audrey asked her husband.

"Y-yes-s, at least t-to m-me-e-e," Seymour chattered again and took a deep breath before sitting beside his wife on the couch.

"Well, otha' than the cold, how was your day?" asked Audrey. She decided to be more reasonable with her husband about work near Christmas.

"Good, actually. Real good. The poinsettias came in and we're selling by the truckload," he said, and laughed. "Remember when nobody bought any poinsettias from the old shop and Mr. Mushnik gave us Christmas Eve off?"

"Sure do. That was our first Christmas working togetha'," Audrey said and kissed her husband on the lips.

"Eew, I still don't like kissing," Julie said and left the room._ Cookie time! _she thought sneakily.

"He'd be happy to see your shop doin' so well," Audrey concluded quietly with a smile spreading across her face. "We got a present in the mail from the girls. They sent some candies from that little shop by Shmendrik's. Oh, and Shmendrik sent us an invitation for free dinna' at his place too."

"That's Al Shmendrik all right. He's been givin' me free food since I was a little tyke," Seymour said. "Who knows? Maybe we can go back to the city before Junior comes."

"Maybe. And we haven't decided on a name for the baby yet, Seymour. We don't even know if it's gonna be a boy or a girl yet."

"Well I can't think of any good names, especially for another girl. You came up with Julie's name. Lets just make it simple. If it's a boy we name him after me, and if it's a girl we'll name her after you."

"So would she be an Audrey Two or an Audrey Junia'?" his wife joked and they both laughed nervously thinking about the name. After a small pause, she continued, "We'll think a' somethin'. We've still got three months." Audrey smiled but she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye from the hall. Her daughter was holding something and her cheeks appeared more rounded than usual, and then Audrey understood.

"Julie Floretta, did you take a cookie when I told you not to?" she squeaked.

"M-mo," Julie muttered, chewing on her prize.

Audrey frowned and puffed her chest as Seymour laughed. "Kids…"

* * *

"And with a wink of an eye and a pinch of his nose, up da' ch-chim-n...." Julie said and stopped reading her picture book. She was in her parents' room that Christmas Eve.

"Chimney," her father finished for her.

"-Up da' chimney he rose," the girl sounded out. "Can you read the last part, Ma?"

Audrey pulled the book toward her. "He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, and away 'dey all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim as he drove outta sight, 'Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night,'" she said with a tired smile. "Ah, what a good story."

"Mm-hm," Julie said and sang a little Christmas tune. _"You betta' watch out, you betta' not cry-"_

_"You'd better not pout-"_ Seymour sang along.

_"I'm tellin' you why,"_ Audrey added.

The family looked at each other's faces before they sang together,

"_Santa Claus is coming to town._

_Santa Claus is coming to town."_

All three chuckled faintly once their song was over. Singing was one thing that always brought their little family together, even during the bad times. Seymour wrapped his arm around Audrey's shoulder and Julie rested her head on her mother's side. She glanced down at the growing belly before her, thinking.

"Ma," Julie finally said. "When's the baby coming again?"

"March," Audrey replied.

"We'll still sing when it comes, right Ma?"

"Sure," Audrey answered. "And we'll sing _to_ him or her."

"But what about us three?" Julie asked.

"Well, this is your little brother or sista' we're talking about. We'll have to take care a' both a' you."

"Oh," Julie commented. "Daddy, you're sure you don't have any brothers or sisters?"

Seymour tried to swallow the sting in his daughter's words, but it did not help. Audrey noticed it and decided to speak for him. "Julie, you know your Daddy wasn't as lucky as you are. He didn't have a family."

"But what if he does but we just don't know where they are?"

"Julie, that's-"

Seymour raised his hand. "It's alright, honey." He took a breath and looked at their bedside lamp, letting the light reflect off his glasses. "I'll probably never know if I have any brothers, sisters, or even a ma and dad out there, but I've got my family right here." He looked over at Julie thoughtfully. "Things'll get better. It's what your ma always says."

"And Mama's always right, or else Dad sleeps on the couch," Julie said.

"-Right." Audrey giggled and hugged her daughter. "Time to go to bed, or else Santa won't come tonight. Unless you're still worried about the dreaming."

Julie frowned. "Maybe a little. Could I sleep in here one more night, Ma?"

Audrey and Seymour looked to each other and nodded. "Sure," Audrey said. "But rememba', tomorrow you go back to your room, okay?"

"Okay," Julie answered, snuggling under the covers with a small yawn. "'Night."

Seymour smiled and lied down beside Julie. "Night."

"'Night," Audrey added before lying down herself.

It was a long time before Audrey went to sleep that night. She was busy thinking about things. She worried about her husband when he went to work, always thinking that Mary was going to seduce him. She also worried about herself and the baby that would come in three short months.

_I wonder what Mama did when she was going to have me, _Audrey wondered. _ I guess she had Daddy to help back then… I should send her that Christmas card!_

She then reached from underneath the bed, found the card and pen, and scribbled onto the fancy Christmas card for her mother. They were very sentimental words, almost contradicting her actual life, but that was for the best. Anything was better than complaining about her life to someone still stuck on Skid Row. It was awful for Audrey to have the only remaining member of her family living in that horrible place. Audrey's father left when she was seven and her sister Julia had died in a car accident, so her mother, Marianne Fulquard, was her last hope. They never had been on the best communication terms since Audrey ran away from home, but since her marriage to Seymour, they had been completely cut off. Marianne had been sick before she and Seymour left Skid Row, and that was why she could not make it to their little wedding, but Audrey didn't know anything after that. Again, the doubt of receiving an answer sunk in, but Audrey continued to fabricate her grand letter until it was finished.

With now weary eyes, Audrey glanced over at Seymour and Julie sleeping beside her. She smiled, seeing Julie contentedly sleeping snuggled up to her father. _I'm glad we have her, _she thought. _Seymour just would not be Seymour without her. And I've never been the same since she became part of our family._

At last, Audrey turned out the light and closed her eyes. The baby moved again, and she gently patted her belly to soothe her unborn child to sleep. By the time that the baby was finally resting, Audrey had long fallen asleep with her hand over her stomach.

* * *

"Wake up! Ma, Dad, wake up!" cried Julie's voice the next morning as she nudged Audrey's shoulder frantically. "It's Christmas, Mama! It's Christmas!"

"It's Christma-a-as…" Audrey yawned loudly with slight irritation as her daughter was waking her up quite forcefully. She glanced over and noticed that Seymour appeared still dead to the world. "Gee, why don't you wake up your fatha', Julie?" she asked with a tiny, smug smile.

"Okay!" Julie exclaimed before running over to the other side of the bed. "Dad, Dad, get up!"

"I-don't-wanna-get-up," Seymour grumbled.

"But Daddy, it's Christmas!" Julie whined and tackled him. "Wake up!"

"Ah-ah, okay, okay, you win!" Seymour answered. "Sheesh, can't I ever get some decent sleep around here?"

"Not on Christmas, Daddy," Julie said. "C'mon, Santa's been here, I know it, I know it!"

"I don't know, Julie. Maybe with all the waking up your parents, Santa decided to leave you a lump a' coal this year," Audrey said with a wink at Seymour as they got out of bed and followed their daughter down the hall to the living room. Their small Christmas tree glowed with bright lights and many packages wrapped in equally bright wrapping paper sat waiting for them underneath.

"If those presents are coal, then that coal's awful big!" Julie said with a squeal.

"Ah-ah-ah," Audrey squeaked, grabbing onto Julie's sleeve before she could grab a gift. "You know the rule. Smallest present to biggest. Rememba'-"

Julie and Seymour both sighed and finished Audrey's sentence, "Good things come in small packages."

"Exactly. Now, Seymour dear, could you play the record while I get the hot cocoa ready?" That was hardly a question worth asking, as they both did their little jobs quick. "-And Julie Floretta, if you open one present in there I'm going to have to take away all the cookies," Audrey added from the kitchen.

Julie quit tugging at a ribbon with that and replied, "Yes, Mama."

Once the scratchy tunes were playing and the hot cocoa was served, it was present opening time. Audrey opened her stocking and found a few things; mostly candy and a couple of tangerines. There was also a rectangular present inside the stocking that said, "from someone who loves you" and she opened it quickly to find a lump of coal. "You did it again!" she shrieked to Seymour. "-Just a big lump a' coal."

Seymour and Julie both laughed at Seymour's annual Christmas joke on Audrey. "Maybe you want to look under the coal this year?" he asked.

"Under the coal, what the- oh!" Audrey yelped after lifting the coal and tissue paper out from underneath. "Oh, Seymour, how did you get this?" she asked, lifting a tiny picture frame out of the box. The photo in the frame was smooth and delicate, but it appeared to be far older in its making. It was of two girls; one taller with dark hair and the other shorter with nearly white locks playing on the New York City sidewalk.

"I got a duplicate of that old photo you showed me. They did some restoring work for the picture, and they engraved the frame. See?" he said, and pointed to the bottom of the frame.

Audrey read it aloud, "Julia and Audrey Fulquard, best friends and sista's." She smiled, feeling as if she were about to cry, and hugged her husband. "Thank you, thank you so much, Seymour." She turned to Julie and showed her the photograph. "Look, see? That's your Auntie Julia, the one I named you afta', and there's me when I was your age." She sighed. "Even when she was nine, Julia was beautiful."

Julie looked at the picture, though she had no interest in it at all. "Is it my turn to open one yet?"

Audrey turned to her and nodded, holding a small square box. "Here, this one's from your aunties."

Julie took the present and ripped the paper off. "Ooh, a necklace!" she said, and pulled out the metal band with a clearly plastic, but still pretty, heart-shaped gem. A card rested inside the box that Julie read aloud, "Merry Ch-Christmas, Julie, love Ronnette, Chiffon, and Crystal. P-S: Hope to see you soon."

"How nice of them," Audrey said and turned to Seymour with yet another present in hand. "Here you go, honey."

Seymour grinned and opened his present to reveal a blue case for his glasses. "Ha, I've been needin' this," he said and held his wife's hand. "Thanks." The pair briefly smiled and stared into each other's eyes before Seymour stood up. "I think I'll go turn up the music. Be right back."

And as the record's songs changed from "The Christmas Song", to "Jingle Bells", and many more Christmas carols, the family continued to open their presents. Santa had brought everyone a little something; a new pink coat for Audrey, a few toys and a copy of "The Trumpet of the Swan" for Julie, some new slippers for Seymour, and even a new chew toy for Rover. Seymour and Audrey partook in another tradition of theirs; the exchange of two special flower arrangements. That had started while they were co-workers on Skid Row, as Seymour had made Audrey a bouquet out of the finest flowers he could find in the shop and gave it to her anonymously. Once they were married, Audrey discovered that Seymour was the person who had created the arrangement, and so she did the same for him on their first Christmas married.

A last present was to "someone I haven't met yet", signed Santa. It was an outfit for the baby that Audrey seemed to admire it greatly. "Wait till you see these, sweet baby," she said softly, talking to the unborn child. "We sure can't wait to see you."

And so, Christmas came and went. At least for that day, everybody in the family was peaceful and optimistic for the future.


	9. The Playdate and the Messenger

_**Through Julie's Eyes**_

**Chapter Nine: The Play Date and the Messenger**

Since the invention of the telephone, mothers have always been notorious phone callers. Whether you ask for it or not, they always seem to call up somebody to help and arrange something inconvenient behind your back. Julie Krelborn learned this lesson the hard way. Somehow or other, her mother acquired the Harris' home phone number and arranged for Julie and Maggie to have a play date. The scheduled meeting was set on January 16th at the Krelborn household, and young Julie was already dreading it.

"It'll be fun," Audrey tried to convince her daughter as they sat together on the couch that winter's day. "All you have to do is pretend you're talking to her at school, except, well… you won't be at school."

The question that had been bothering Julie since Billy had voiced his comment burned in her mind once more before she finally just said it to her mother. "Mama, is there somethin' wrong with black people?"

"What? Of course not, sweetheart, why would you even ask that?" Audrey replied with a shocked look on her face.

"Well, Billy said I shouldn't play with Maggie 'cause she's part black," Julie replied. "I don't know, I was just wondering, Ma."

Audrey paused and took a deeper breath. "Well, honey, there are some people who think that if a person acts or looks different from them that they aren't as good a person as they are. Now tell me, do you think that Maggie or your aunties aren't as important as you or me?"

Julie looked down at the carpet, then back up at her mother's face. "No, I never thought that."

Audrey smiled and hugged Julie tightly. "Then that's all that matta's honey, what you think. Now go get ready, ya friend will be here any minute."

Julie stood in her bedroom, almost pacing. She was dressed nicely enough, and the house was certainly clean enough because her mother had cleaned overtime, but she still felt as if she had to make an important impression on Maggie. She looked over at Rover sitting in the corner of the room with his head turned to the side in a curious pose as he gave a small whine. On her bed lay Bunny, looking at her with his old, everlasting button eyes, and in the window her little zinnia flower seemed to be watching her with its stem and leaves perking up. All of these were her friends, the good-hearted sentinel dog, the comforting old stuffed rabbit, the growing plant that thrived only because of her care; and they all helped her feel at least a little better. She had not failed a friend yet, so why should she be nervous about seeing her friend?

"Maybe you're right," she said to Rover, Bunny, and the plant as if they all might answer. "Maybe I've got nothin' to worry about."

_Ding-dong'_ rang the doorbell that took Julie back to reality. She swallowed a large wad of spit in the back of her throat when she heard her mother's faint voice through the walls greeting her friend.

"Come right on inside," she heard her mother say. "Julie, get in here and show ya friend around."

"Yes, Mom," Julie replied and walked out of her room with Rover following her. There was Maggie, standing just beyond the doorway in the living room, watching her shyly and inquisitively and taking in the house. It was hard to think of anything to say, so she just greeted her friend with the only thought that came into her mind, "Hi, Maggie."

"Hey," Maggie answered, still looking around the house in somewhat astonishment, as it looked so different from her own home. The two girls stood there awkwardly for awhile, the hostess child off guard and the guest confused about what to do.

At last, Audrey interjected. "Well, don't be shy, Julie. You girls get settled in; you know, play some games, watch some TV. Julie can show you around here. I'll make you two a snack. Do you like peanut butta' an' jelly sandwiches?"

"Yes, Mrs. Krelborn," replied Maggie. "Can you cut the crusts off please?"

Audrey smiled sweetly. "Sure." Then she nudged her daughter who was still standing still in the doorway. "Don't be rude. Rememba' she came here to visit you." She mumbled in a lower tone.

Julie nodded after hearing the seriousness of her mother's tone. "So, do you really want me to-uh, show ya around?" she asked.

"Nah, don't worry about it," answered Maggie and looked over at Rover behind her. "Hey, you have a dog?"

Julie noticed Rover and nodded. "Oh yeah. This is Rover. Don't worry, he won't bite ya, he likes everybody."

Maggie reached her hand toward the spaniel dog who sniffed it before giving it a small lick and she laughed. "Aw, he's cute. I wish I had a dog, but all we got is an old cat named Tommy." She paused again. "Could we go to your room?"

"Oh, sure," Julie answered in a high-pitched voice that reflected her nervousness. She led her friend shortly down the hall and into her bedroom where she had just been pacing earlier. "Well, this is it," she said feebly.

Maggie noticed the flower décor that filled Julie's room as well as all of the other plant-related things that she had seen around the Krelborn house. "You like flowers, huh?"

"Not really, but my Ma and Dad do," Julie answered with a shrug. "My dad's opening up a flower shop here in town."

"Oh. Why do they like flowers so much?"

"They used ta' work in this flower shop in the city. Daddy lived there and Mama lived across the street from him. They just sorta' like that stuff."

"Oh," Maggie replied again and tapped Bunny with her hand. "Who's this?"

Julie suddenly felt embarrassed with her old toy in full view. "Oh, he's just my old toy," she said and pushed Bunny off her bed, though she honestly felt protective of him after doing it.

Maggie noticed Julie's shelf full of books. "Wow, you like to read, huh?"

Julie nodded. "I like stories, so readin' just is fun."

Audrey walked in at that moment, holding a tray of half peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. "Here ya go kids. Hope you like chunky peanut butta', Maggie." She paused as the two girls stared at her standing up slowly after leaning over to set down the trsy. The physical effort from her slightly larger belly was visable. "Oh, don't mind me, I'm just servin' the food here."

When her friend's mother had finally exited the room, Maggie whispered, "Your mom's gonna have a baby, isn't she?"

Julie looked up from her sandwich. "Uh-huh. You have brothers, right?"

"Yup," replied Maggie and took a bite. "One big, one little one."

"What's it like being a big sister?" Julie asked curiously since she had never been given a proper response from her younger child mother or her orphan father.

Maggie shrugged. "It's all right I guess. I'm the middle kid, so I'd have to ask my big brother." She sighed. "Having brothers can be a real pain in the butt though."

Julie's eyes widened. "I hope mine's a sister then."

Rover came and sat down between the two girls, then snatched a sandwich away for himself and ate it with a small snarl.

"Bad dog!" Julie said and looked over to Maggie. "So, what d'ya wanna do?"

"Wanna go outside in the snow?" Maggie asked. "I like the snow."

Julie led her friend to the backyard and into the deeper snow to make a fort. She had never made a snow fort with another person outside of her family before, and even then, her father never made a very good defense against her mother in a snowball war. This was a new adventure, and it only helped her connect to Maggie better. They talked about things they liked and little memories in their lives. Maggie seemed astonished to hear Julie's story about how she had been kidnapped on a trip to New York City and that her father had come to save her. It sounded so glorious and heroic that she was almost jealous. Though she did not know that it actually terrified Julie to think about it. Maggie did not have to remember those terrible men who ransomed her for money, only to have her violently knocked unconscious when her father confronted them, and all the while, she had never been certain that she would be safe with her parents again. That was what Julie remembered.

After building their fort, the girls played fetch with Rover, chasing after him through the powder when he would not return the toy they had thrown. All the while Audrey watched from the kitchen window, smiling appreciatively at the friendship that seemed to be building between the two little girls.

* * *

The front door clicked open as Seymour entered the house. "Audrey, I'm hooome!" he called, imitating _I Love Lucy _as his wife came to greet him.

"Hey, hon," she said. "So, how was it over at Mushnik and Son's?"

"Could've been better, but it could've been worse too."

"How many customa's?"

"Not too many. At least I've got Mary to take care a' the place. She's great."

Audrey smirked. "I still wouldn't trust her so much, Seymour."

Seymour bit his lip. "Why's that Audrey?"

"Oh, neva' mind, honey," Audrey replied. She wanted to kiss his cheek, but then the doorbell rang and she knew that Maggie's mother had returned. "Oh Seymour, go get the girls outta the backyard, would you?"

"Sure," he answered and went out to the backyard to find his daughter and her friend having a snowball fight. The sight was sweet, since Seymour had never had that sort of bond back in the Skid Row Home for Boys at Julie's age. He remembered trying to play some tag with the other boys, but more often than not, they would exclude him from their games because he was, and always had been, a nerd. "Hey, Julie girl?" he asked, which made everybody stop. "Your friend's ma is here."

"Oh, okay," Julie said solemnly, and then turned to Maggie. "That's my dad."

"Thought so," Maggie replied. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Krelborn!" she called, watching Julie's father go back inside the house. "Come with me, Julie?"

"Yeah," Julie answered and went back inside the house with her friend and Rover following. Maggie's mother was there in the living room talking to Audrey as if they were old friends. It was hard to tell what exactly they were talking about since they were speaking so fast, but Julie guessed that it was probably about the baby like every conversation seemed to be about these days.

"Hey, kiddo," Maggie's mother finally said. "Ready to get home to the boys?"

"Yeah…" Maggie grumbled and walked over to her mother's side. "See you at school, Julie."

"Yep," Julie answered, standing with a small smile at her own mother's side as they escorted the Harrises out to their car. "Bye, Maggie!" Julie called out as the green car began to back away and her friend waved back.

And in a moment, Maggie was gone again. The games and bond that they shared that afternoon seemed to have been only an illusion, like a mirage, but Julie had enjoyed them so. Her mother had been right in one way but was wrong in another. Audrey was right when she said that it would be fun in the end, but she had been wrong when she had said it would be just like school. At school, there were boundaries set high between them, but here the girls could be themselves playing on a snowy Sunday afternoon.

* * *

It was later that evening, at dinnertime, when the doorbell rang again. Seymour stood up from the table, signaling to Audrey that he would answer it. The girls sat at the table together eating dinner peacefully until Seymour came back in the room.

"Um, Audrey, there's a man at the door who says he needs to talk to you," Seymour said with the slightest touch of concern in his voice.

"Where's he from?" Audrey asked.

"Err, I think he said some funeral company. Probably a client, right?"

Audrey nodded and stood up from the table slightly slower than usual and tiptoed toward the door. _Odd,_ she thought. _I don't remember making an appointment with a funeral company._ She reached the door and slipped on her pink coat so that the chilly air would not affect her, then ventured out to the front stoop.

Seymour and Julie continued eating for several more minutes together, both not sure what exactly was taking Audrey so long to get back. It was not uncommon for Audrey's clients to make a house call, but this unexpected guest was certainly taking his time with her. Then, suddenly, Audrey came back through the door, mumbling something in reply to the visitor.

"I-I'm sorry, but I need some time to think about these things," Audrey's muffled voice squeaked from the other room.

"Of course, but we need to know if you'll be accepting these items from the will or not soon. The funeral is already paid for, ma'am, but we'd like to know a location for her remains," came the deep, sorrowful voice of the visitor. "Here's our card. Give us a call for your answer. We hope that we haven't spoiled your evening."

"No," replied Audrey as the door closed. "And thank you."

Seymour stood up from his place and motioned Julie to stay in her chair. "Audrey, are you alright?" he called.

"Yes, I'm fine," Audrey choked in a badly disguised sob.

Seymour jumped at that sound and ran into the room to find Audrey bent over on the couch with a packet of papers in her hand. She was sniffling a little, and he could see tears streaming down her face, faintly splashing the documents in her grasp. He sat down next to her, and hugged her softly. There was barely any talking between them for another half hour, and only the faint sound of Audrey crying was heard.

Julie watched her mother go to bed without finishing her dinner that night, confused and frightened by her sudden sadness. Seymour took care of the dishes, barely speaking a word to his daughter. Even when he tucked her into bed, he only said, "G'night kiddo," and added, "Send some good thoughts to your ma, okay?"

Julie simply nodded in reply.

Seymour slept on the couch that night, though Julie was sure that he had not made her mother angry, so it was not a punishment. What started as a surprisingly good day had suddenly turned very sour.


	10. Welcome Back to Town

_Author's Note: Sorry about not updating quite on time. I've been really busy lately. It's my senior year, so there's scholarship apps to get in, school to not mess up, community service points to get, and clubs to participate in. Anyway, this isn't going to be the happy chapter. When I mentioned that I had been inspired by the musical Rent and my personal life, I meant the bad side of those things too. So, here we go._

_*S. Snowflake_

* * *

_**Through Julie's Eyes**_

**Chapter Ten: Welcome Back to Town**

Julie remembered the first time that she had been to the city. Back then, she was a wide-eyed four year old, secretly seeking the mysteries of her parents' past. In truth, Julie had discovered more than she could have ever thought possible about them on that trip to Skid Row, but there were still some unsolved secrets about her mother and father. She knew that her father essentially had no family, but that her mother once had a family. Audrey's only remaining family member was her mother, the "grandmamma" who Julie had never met. Julie only knew three things about her grandmother: that she smoked, that she had a frightening voice, and that she had just died. That was why the Krelborns had returned to the city once more; to pay respects for the dead.

Audrey, dressed all in black, walked between the rows of crosses, flowers, and stone memorials first with Seymour and Julie following. Seymour was dressed in a black suit, bowing his head respectfully while Julie wore a dark green dress and carried her ragged stuffed rabbit at her side. The family marched slowly, trying not to drag their feet as they trudged through the beaten earth, solemn, sad, and quiet. A graveyard is a dismal place no matter where a person may roam, but there is quite nothing worse than visiting a graveyard when a loved one is buried there; let alone in graveyard for the poor.

At last, Audrey stopped at a small grave marker and stared down at it. She stood still while the tears began to seep from underneath her eyelashes. With a moment's resolve, she remembered the flowers she had brought with her and placed them gently on the earth before bowing her head again. Every memory of her mother that she could recall flashed back to her, and she began to think of living her without her mother. It was something she could not bear.

Audrey's shoulders shook lightly from the cold air and from her crying as she said something softly, "I just wish I'd known." More tears came then and she squeaked, "Oh, Ma, why didn't you tell me?"

Seymour grimaced at his wife's words and actions. He had never met Audrey's mother, but he knew all too well how much Audrey cared about her. Her mother was one of the few things that she had never quite left behind on Skid Row. Seymour sighed and tried to relate to her, but he and his almost adopted father Mr. Mushnik could never compare to Audrey and her real mother.

Julie watched her mother crying and gripped her father's hand tight. Seymour gently squeezed her hand back, telling his daughter in that gesture that he was feeling just as unsure as she was.

"Audrey," Seymour said to his wife at last. "It's not that I don't care, but maybe we should just say some words on her behalf and get back to our hotel. It's probably going to rain soon."

Audrey nodded slowly and sighed. "You go first, Seymour."

Seymour looked back at Audrey, then took two steps closer to the grave marker and cleared his throat. "Well, uh, I… I sure would have liked to meet you, Marianne," he started to say. "Audrey, well, she talked about you all the time. And, Audrey's given me everything I could hope for and more." He smiled. "You have one heck of a girl to be proud of, and I hope you approve of me now. Thank you."

As Seymour took young Julie's hand again, Audrey came back to the grave marker and bit her lip to hold back the tears. "Ma… I," she started and stopped again with more tears in her eyes. "Well, I always thought one day that I-I'd make something of myself; that I'd get back at you one day for all the times I was mad about our lives. But now I just want to forget I eva' wished that I…" She sniffled and wiped away another tear.

"I wish you could've met Seymour," she continued. "You probably would think I was crazy for marrying him if you did, but he takes good care of me, Ma." She bit her lip again. "And my two babies will never have met you eitha'. Oh, Ma, I just wish I-I…" A final rush of tears came and she covered her face with her hands, black mascara bleeding down her cheek before she stood up slowly. "No matter what, you'll always be my Mama. You'll always be the one who told me not to get into trouble, but I would anyway." She produced a laugh that came out as a choked sob and looked at her family. "You don't know how much someone means to you 'till they're gone."

Rain began to fall down on the family below and Audrey knew that it was time to leave. The water droplets splattered the ground as the family rushed back to the car. The rain fell in showers on the windows as Audrey cried once more. It was a long time before Seymour actually drove away from the spot with the rain falling so heavily.

* * *

The diner smelled like heaven in hamburger form later that day, though the Krelborns could hardly muster up an appetite. On their former visit to Skid Row, Shmendrik's Diner had been a nice place to visit, with its homey and fun-filled charm and so many familiar faces. Seymour and Audrey were still well known on Skid Row, so when they did drop by, it was an occasion for the locals. This time, however, the couple was anything but happy to see their old friends. Even Crystal, Chiffon, and Ronnette could not cheer them up.

"I gave this guy instructions on how to get to Mushnik's old place, but he had to pay me to get em'. He gave me the dollar, but then I went and told him that the shop was demolished and I still got his money," Chiffon told her story with a desperate laugh to keep energy moving at the table. "What a chump!"

"You said it, girl," said Ronnette. "Nothin' but chumps, these uptown folks."

Seymour half smiled at their friends who were somewhat chipper. "Well, at least me and Audrey've still got some street smarts."

Audrey sighed from where she sat, letting her sandwich platter get cold. "Yeah."

Ronnette looked over at Julie and Crystal chatting at the other end of the table before saying quietly, "Come on, Audrey. Eat something. We know it's been a rough day, but you just have to."

Audrey pushed the plate away from her. "I'm not feeling that hungry, that's all."

Chiffon shook her head. "Honey, we've all lost people we love, but you can't get like this. It's bad for you and the kid."

"I'm fine, really," said Audrey. "Seymour, honey, you can eat some a' my fries. I think I need to go to the car."

Seymour nodded and slowly pulled Audrey's meal closer to him as she left. He watched her out of the corner of his glasses as she unlocked their little blue bug and sat down in the driver's seat, gently weeping. He sighed, and mechanically started chewing on the French fries.

"I'm sorry," he said to the girls. "Audrey's just having a rough time. Ever since we got the news two weeks ago, she's been off."

Ronnette nodded. "My little brother died and I went through hell."

"I couldn't imagine losing my mama, but it happens," said Chiffon.

Seymour noticed Julie was tugging at his sleeve to get his attention. "Dad, why'd Mama go to the car?" she asked.

Seymour half smiled for his daughter and frizzed up her hair playfully. "She just needs some time to herself. Don't you worry about her. Hey, you want to have some of these fries?"

"Okay," Julie agreed and bit into a large French fry near the sandwich. She then balanced a fry on her nose and laughed. "Look what I can do, Dad!" Seymour snatched the fry off Julie's nose and ate it before she could hesitate. "Hey, no fair!"

"Life's not always fair, Julie girl," said Seymour with a laugh before looking back at the car and sighing as he saw his wife was still crying. "I hate to bother you girls like this, but could you watch Julie for a sec? I think I've got to… be there for somebody."

Crystal nodded. "Come on, Julie honey, let's go find something to play on Shmendrik's old jukebox."

Julie nodded happily and ran to join her aunt, unaware of what was happening just outside the diner in the pouring rain. As she and her three aunties played some peaceful and lively tunes inside the sanctuary of griddles and dining fun, Seymour walked out the car and tried to console Audrey. He only succeeded in being thrown out again, and walked back into the diner with a broken spirit and a drenched jacket. Even the sight of his daughter playing could not make him happy. Sitting at the table alone, he wondered one thing and one thing only:

_Where do we go from here?_


	11. It's My Fault

_Author's Note: Just to give you guys a fair warning, this part is going to be more dramatic. I'm not saying that it's really "action-y" or anything, but it's got a twist you probably weren't expecting. And please, oh-oh-oh, please... review for me!_

_*S. Snowflake_

* * *

_**Through Julie's Eyes**_

**Chapter Eleven: "It's My Fault."**

After the funeral and death had passed, life seemed to go back to its normal pace in the Krelborn house. They were still a family of three with a fourth on the way, and they still lived in that nice, little house together. To anyone on the outside, they might have seemed like the average, growing American family, but sadly, that was only from the surface. While the winter's snows still covered the ground, covering the houses, something bad was bubbling inside the Krelborn house..

Audrey had recovered somewhat from her state of absolute grief. She did not cry every night as she had before. She might have seemed normal, but little things around the house revealed more about what was really going on. Audrey had been a compulsive cleaner ever since she and Seymour started their new life in their home, but now there was clutter. It started out as just a little, and Seymour tried to pull his own weight in not leaving messes, but they began to grow larger until the house was no longer a desirable place to live. It was not uncommon for things to go missing now.

Even at dinnertime, things seemed wrong. True, Audrey had never been the best cook (she was notorious for getting distracted and burning food), but these meals were almost unbearable. Julie slurped at the slimy spinach leaves and meat that covered her plate, praying that she could make it through supper and satisfy her hunger with dessert. Even when Audrey conceded and went out to Denny's for dinner, something was still very wrong about her disposition. When she got up in the morning, she looked like a tired slave of her own devices. When asked about anything happy like Seymour's new shop or the baby, her responses were unusually quiet and collected. Her smiles had not really changed, but those green eyes seemed to shimmer with pain-filled tears whenever she would try to express joy. Even _I Love Lucy _could not cheer her up.

It was now the week of Valentine's Day, the day when most people would express their love with cards, chocolates, and of course, flowers. _Mushnik & Son's_ was having better business than usual due to the season, but money and success could not make Seymour happy. He wanted nothing more than to see his wife at least consoled again. When she was upset, so was he. They were indeed a pair.

Mary T. had been wearing more red than usual lately. She always seemed to enjoy talking with Seymour. She asked questions about him, but never his wife and daughter. The look on her face when Audrey came into the shop was one of unadulterated hatred, and when the blonde would leave, mopey and silent as she was, Mary would say something to her boss that made him angry.

The remark was always, "Sure doesn't seem your type."

However, Seymour let Mary's comment slide. He was starting to get the vibes that his wife was so resentful of earlier, but Mary was a good employee. Maybe she just wanted attention too and didn't know how to get it right. Or maybe she and Audrey just got off to a bad start and things would change soon. Why did he care so much about defending his employee? Anyway, it was not his place to intervene. His Valentine's Day surprise for Audrey would go smoothly… or so he thought.

* * *

_It was disaster, sheer disaster!_ Seymour thought, sitting on the couch the evening after the fact. _What have I done?_

Julie watched him secretly from down the hall. "What d'ya think it is, Rover?" she whispered to the dog. "He hasn't talked since he got home."

Seymour did not hear his daughter as he sat there, tapping his foot, impatient and nervous. He wanted Audrey to come home, more than anything. He had not seen her since the morning, when it all began…

* * *

He and Mary had been working that day, just like any other day. Nothing was out of the ordinary now, in fact, if anything it was monotonous, especially when the heater went out of control and made the shop extremely hot. By lunchtime, both of them were sweating from the Valentines Day crowds. They watched people out the window strutting about, some of them carrying large bunches of flowers and gifts for each other.

"I've always liked Valentine's Day," Seymour said to Mary.

She smiled. "Me too, but why do you?"

Seymour turned his head to the side. "Well, you know, the shop I came from didn't get much business." Then he smiled again. "I always wanted to give Audrey flowers on Valentine's Day, back when we were workin' together."

"Pity," Mary said.

Seymour looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Well, flowers aren't important to me," Mary answered, snaking her hand around her boss' back. "It's not the flowers, it's the man who gives the flowers."

"Huh, I guess," Seymour thought, then noticed his employee's hand and how close she was getting to his face. "Well, um, I think it's about time to get back to work, don't ya think? Audrey will be here any minute with that last order."

"Wait, Seymour… sir," Mary started slowly and bit her lip. "There's something I've always wanted to just do, just say…"

Seymour raised his eyebrows. _Maybe we're getting somewhere_ he thought. "What's that, Mary? Better just get whatever it is out."

Mary smiled smugly. "So glad you agree."

She reached over to him suddenly and kissed him flat on the lips. Before he could protest, she had him locked into another kiss, this one longer. Seymour did have to admit that she was a good kisser, but then he thought of Audrey, his wife. She was supposed to be the only person who ever kissed him like this, he knew that. Thinking of what was now happening made him sick to his stomach.

A few click-clacks of her heels and the shop bells signaled Audrey's arrival. "Seymour, honey, I've got the orders you asked for-" She was wearing a bright, polka-dotted dress, and holding about nine arranged bouquets as tightly as she could over her now swollen belly when she saw her husband and Mary still lip-locked. Her eyes widened and she dropped the flowers at her feet in shock. "S-Seymour?"

Seymour pushed Mary away as quickly as he could, but it was no use; he'd been caught. "Audrey! Audrey, this isn't what it looks like! I- she…"

"Seymour, I… I can't _believe_ you!" Then she ran out of the shop as quickly as she could carry herself out.

"Audrey!" Seymour shouted after his wife as she fled through the front door. He ran after her, nearly tripping over the mat on the way out. "Audrey!" he called out to no answer.

He decided to go down some of the blocks nearby. Audrey was nowhere to be seen on the street or sidewalk. Seymour feared that he might be too late to say anything to her, but then he heard her sad, familiar whimper. He followed the cries that came from almost directly behind his shop, and, sure enough, found Audrey crying.

"Honey?" he asked as he approached her. She almost flinched and took a step back looking up at him. "Audrey, please, listen to me. I know what it musta' looked like, but that's not how it was, I promise you. C'mon, you know I'd never- oh, Audrey, come on, please."

Audrey sniffled before glaring at him. "I always knew she was afta' you, but I didn't know you were actually _with_ her!" She made an agonizing squeal that sounded something like a crushed mouse as an owl grips down on its chest. "Mama was right. I've always been too stupid to see what's right in front of my face!"

"Audrey, please, I…" Seymour stuttered as she continued to cry. "Audrey, I love you so much. You don't honestly think I'd cheat on you do you?"

"Just leave me alone," Audrey squeaked in frantic response and backed away from him. "I've got to get away f-for a little while. I don't want to talk, j-just go. _You_ can pick up Julie from school today, and _you_ can tell her what happened."

"Audrey, don't-"

"Just stay away from me! I-I'll come home lata', okay?" she choked before walking off briskly and out of sight.

Seymour stared after his wife for awhile after, heartbroken, and numb. In truth, he had done nothing to cause Mary to kiss him, but he felt as if he were the cause of it. _I was, in a way_. _I didn't stop her stupid comments when they started. Audrey tried to warn me before, and now I'm paying the price for not listening, _he thought. Until this point, he really had liked Mary's company and now he wondered if it was really due to attraction. She _did_, after all, look like his wife in her more youthful days in her spiked heeled shoes and slightly revealing outfits. Why wouldn't he automatically consider attraction?

…Because he was not in love with her. He was married to Audrey, and he loved _her_. That had never changed since they left Skid Row.

He passed by a boy who had bought flowers from his shop for a girl. He could tell by the arrangement he bought and the love-struck look on his face. _To be in love and never know of these things,_ he thought, deeply.

When he walked back into the shop, he found Mary staring at the floor, almost stunned. "You didn't like it, did you?"

Seymour looked back at her, wanting to smack her, but restrained himself and said calmly, "No." When neither of them spoke again, he added, "That'll be all for today, Miss Tombe. I'm closing Mushnik and Son's early."

She sighed. "I'm fired, huh?"

Seymour paused. "Please, just go. I-I need to set things right." He looked down at the floor, ignoring Mary as she left in something of a huff without saying a word.

Slowly, Seymour switched off the neon light, flipped over the OPEN/CLOSED sign, and closed the blinds. He walked around the shop, taking a few deep breaths and muttering to the plants in the store. It was funny, but he still talked to plants when he was alone, even though none of these particular plants would ever talk back. They made great therapy though; they always listened. At last, after talking to a planter rose on the back shelf, Seymour knew what he had to do. He grabbed two handfuls of cut roses out of the refrigerator along with about eight strings of baby's breath and a role of bright green ribbon, then walked into the back room and began his construction.

* * *

The rose arrangement sat placidly on the living room table beside Seymour who was still sitting by in his spot on the couch, tapping his foot. It was a symmetrical piece, forming a sort of cone with the white baby's breath emerging beneath the orange and red blooms in an almost rhythmical way.

It was long past ten now, and Seymour listened to the clock tick-tock away into the night, glancing up at it every now and then to know if he had lost track of time. The click of a doorknob, the telephone ringing, the click-clacking of Audrey's high heels on the pavement outside all would be signs, but he heard nothing.

Julie entered the living room then, wearing her yellow pajamas and holding her stuffed rabbit at her side. Her eyes had small bags underneath that she rubbed faintly before asking, "Daddy, where's Mama?"

Seymour looked up at her, then back down at the carpet beneath his feet. "I told you, I don't know where she is. Just please, go to sleep, Julie girl."

Julie decided to sit on the couch, despite her father's request. "Why isn't she here, Dad?"

Seymour sighed. "-Because a' me. I did something bad and, well, your ma's mad at me for it. I'd be mad too… it's my fault, okay?"

Julie clung to him. "I want her back, Daddy."

Seymour tried to smile at her, even though he felt rotten on the inside. "Me too, Julie girl, me too. Don't worry about it, she-"

The doorbell rang and Seymour jumped up from the couch. He went to the door in a flurry as Julie watched him.

"Audrey, I…" he started, then stopped before adding, "Oh, God…"

Julie peered through the front door and saw her mother standing between two of her neighborhood friends. She was tempted to cry out for her, but she stopped. The hushed tones of the adults were enough of a bad sign, but her mother tilting one way or another and wobbling about, was an even worse one. Julie listened as well as she could to them, but their conversation was muffled.

"-She was out on River Road," said one of the neighbors.

"What was she doing?" Seymour asked.

"-don't know. Hey, Audrey, why don't you tell your hubby what you were up to?"

"-That Mary," grumbled Audrey.

"Audrey-" Seymour began, "-wanted to apologize all day, but you didn't come home." He stopped when she fell into his arms and nearly made him fall pver. "Audrey!" Seymour cried and shook her a little. "Snap out of it! You're back home now, do ya hear me? -Safe." He turned to the ladies at the door and nodded. "Thank you very much. It means a lot."

The two friends tried to smile as Seymour closed the door and they left into the night.

"Where's Julie?" Audrey squeaked. "You picked her up from school, didn't you?"

"Of course I did, she's-" He realized that Julie had watched this whole thing happen and turned around. "Julie girl, it's time for you to go to bed."

Julie nodded and scampered away from her mother and father. She and Rover pretended to sleep through half closed eyes as a nervous Seymour led wobbly Audrey down the hall to their room. Once the door was closed, Julie muttered, "I think she's sick…but that sure doesn't look like chicken pox."


	12. A Story to Tell

_Author's Note: Just a note, this chapter's really pretty short, but I like it since it's the only chapter that's not really from Julie's eyes at all. And we're getting close to the end now. Only about 4 or 5 more chapters after this to post._

_*S. Snowflake_

* * *

_**Through Julie's Eyes**_

**Chapter Twelve: A Story to Tell**

Audrey stayed in bed almost all of the next day. Seymour took care of the house as best as he could, but he did ask for Julie's help every now and then. It was on the second day after the incident that Audrey began to move around the house again, but she did not speak to her husband. It hurt too much. The air in the house was one of suspicion and silence. Julie felt alone at this time. She wanted to talk to Maggie about it, but it was vacation and nobody was willing to take her to visit. She spent a lot of time in her bedroom or out in the backyard, noticing how the snow started to disappear as the season changed.

She didn't hear her parents' conversation in their bedroom that one day, off in her own little world, but if she had, it would have gone something like this:

Seymour came into the bedroom that morning, finding his wife sitting silently in bed. She looked up at him, then her eyes darted back down just as quickly. It was obvious that she didn't plan on him being there.

"Hi," he finally said. "-Mind if I talk to you?"

She pouted and gave him a sigh of defeat. "-Guess not."

He slowly walked over to the bed and sat on the edge, watching her scratch her fingernails across the blankets. "I've got a story to tell you."

"And it's about that Mary girl."

"Well, yes… and no," Seymour started and scratched the back of his head. "Audrey, you were right about her. I'm sorry I didn't listen to ya, but what can I say? I don't think sometimes, and I just mess up. You oughta' know that. I'm the one who fed Audrey Two, remember?"

Audrey smirked. "You can't win like that, Seymour. Audrey Two wasn't anotha' woman."

"-And there's no way I'd ever love someone else as much as I love you, Audrey," he said as she turned away from him again with a huff. "How can I convince you?"

"I don't know. You're the one who was kissin' her."

"But _she kissed me_! I would never have kissed her, Audrey. Don't you remember how much courage I had to build up just to kiss you?"

"Of course I do, Seymour, but-" She paused. "-we're not the same people we were before. We're not two kids makin' puppy dog eyes in a flowa' shop now." She sighed. "Time to grow up. Time to see you're all alone in this big world with no family to watch ova' you."

Seymour blinked, then frowned. "Is that what's bothering you? You think that your family's all gone?"

Audrey began to cry softly to herself. "Daddy's gone, Julia's gone, and now Mama's gone. I-I don't have anyone left."

Seymour held her hand gently and she didn't resist. "You've got Julie, and me, and we're gonna have the baby soon, Audrey. We're family, aren't we?"

Audrey sighed. "It's not the same. It's not who you grew up with. Y-you can't forget them, and then they're gone." She sniffled. "-All gone."

Seymour closed his eyes and tried not to react badly. "Isn't what you _had_ better than not having anything at all?"

Audrey could have fought, but decided against it. "I guess so. I… I know how much that hurts you, Seymour. I see it." She took another pause. "You used to talk in ya sleep about them a lot."

Seymour raised his eyebrows. "-I did?"

She nodded. "You used to say, 'Ma' and 'Pa' at night. Do you dream about them?"

He sighed. "Sometimes. I think of what they look like and, well, why they didn't want me."

She sighed in return. "It was probably some bad time for them. I know they would've wanted you if they knew you, Seymour. You're too good a person to have been left behind, but sometimes life's hard. Look at me. Mama sure didn't want me."

"-But that's all in the past, Audrey. Sure, they were family, and you cared about all of them, especially your mother, but it's time to move on."

She hung her head into the pillow.

Seymour tried to smile at her and said quietly, "You're right about one thing. We've grown up a lot. We're a team now. We have our family and that's important to me. Back on Skid Row I had next to nothin', but now I've got so much, I-I guess I'm a lucky guy. You showed me that a couple years ago, now didn't ya?"

Audrey finally looked at Seymour and a tiny smile crept up her face.

He smiled back and bit his lower lip before saying, "I love you, Audrey."

She smiled back, clutching his hand tightly. "I love you too. But you know, we can only keep this going if you promise me to listen to me more."

Seymour nodded. "I promise."

She smiled before reaching over and hugging him gently. Then she broke the hug and said, "But I'm still keeping my eye on you!"

Seymour chuckled. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

And if Julie had been there, she would have seen her mother and father share a small kiss of affection. She might also have heard their conversation continue just a bit more casually and move on. She might have understood the reason why her parents were speaking on better terms again and why her mother seemed to be in a far better mood, but even though she never saw her parents on that day, she knew that things were changing again, and quicker than they usually did.


	13. You're Safe With Me

_**Through Julie's Eyes**_

**Chapter Thirteen: "You're Safe With Me"**

The snow was just starting to melt. It was still very cold, but the seasons were changing fast. February was turning to March, and winter was becoming spring. Even inside the Krelborn house, Julie noticed that things were changing. Everything felt restless.

"Move it ova' here, Seymour honey," said Audrey as she and her husband moved the old baby crib that had once been Julie's to their room. Seymour did most of the work, but Audrey helped as best she could in her condition.

Seymour grunted and moved the crib to its spot at the end of the room. "There," he said with a weak smile. "That should do it, eh?"

Audrey smiled shortly. "Yeah, for now anyway. We'll see how things are when the baby actually comes." She paused. "Kinda' scary, isn't it?"

"What, Audrey?" asked Seymour.

"Well, time flies," Audrey said. "I mean, we're going to have a baby, Seymour. This doesn't just happen all the time."

Seymour nodded, glancing over at the doorway where their daughter Julie was watching. "We'll all be fine."

* * *

Julie and Maggie played together almost everyday at school now. It helped Julie feel better that she was not so alone now. Having a friend that would listen to what she said was a strange, but comforting thing.

"Mom and Dad don't talk to me much anymore, Maggie," said Julie one day as she and Maggie boarded the school bus.

"Isn't your mom having a baby soon?"

"Yeah," Julie said with a pause. "Why does that make a difference?"

Maggie giggled a little. "When my lil' brother was born, my mom and dad didn't talk to me much either. It's all 'bout the baby. That's what happens."

Julie frowned. "I don't think I like that."

Maggie tried to make her friend feel better and patted her back. "It's not all bad. Once the baby gets bigger, things go back to normal. 'Takes awhile, but then it'll be okay. And hey, I'll still be here."

"Yeah," muttered Julie. "You're probably right." She thought of something. "Maggie?"

"-Yeah?"

"Billy should get to know you. He doesn't know you, and he said…"

Maggie lifted a hand to stop her friend. "-I know. Mom told me to forget that 'cause that's no way to think about people."

Julie smiled. "I don't think like that."

Maggie smiled back and they sat on the bus in silence for a while.

Julie turned to Maggie at last. "Thanks for listening, Maggie."

"-No problem."

* * *

Seymour had never been fond of how his daughter seemed to like Audrey II. He had told her the story of his past long ago as a way of getting it off his chest. It helped him greatly back then, but now it seemed that the past was giving him another nip in the bud when he absolutely couldn't need it any less. He caught Julie drawing another picture of the Audrey II one afternoon when she was in her room. It was a simple drawing of he and the Audrey II. Both he and the plant seemed to be happy, innocent characters in the drawing._ How ironic_, he thought. He walked over to his daughter and patted her back to get her attention.

"That's some drawing you've got there, Julie," he said.

Julie looked up at her father and smiled. "Do you like it?"

Seymour faltered over his answer. "Well," He cleared his throat. "Julie girl, you know about before with me and Audrey Two?"

"Uh-huh," said Julie.

"Well, I want you to know something. I-I'm not so sure if you got all a' my story," Seymour said, and knelt before his daughter, looking her straight in the eye. "I did _bad_ things for Audrey Two. Nothing I did was good, and Audrey Two was a very bad plant. It tried to eat your ma and it tried to kill me. Now, do you think it was okay for the plant and me to do those things?"

Julie paused and shook her head. "I wouldn't want you guys to get eaten. And Mr. Mushnik wasn't so bad, so... no, I guess not."

"Good," he said. "And I want you to know that what I did was not okay…ever. Do you understand?"

"Yes, dad," said Julie.

Seymour glanced behind his shoulder before whispering,"-To tell you a secret, I'm still afraid of Audrey Two."

"You? _Scared_?" asked Julie. "You're grown up though. You're not scared a' monsters, are you?"

Seymour smiled at his daughter. "I may be grown up, but I'm still scared of lots a' things. I still don't like the dark or thunderstorms, or dentists." He paused. "And, well, I'd be scared if something happened to you or your ma. You two are all I have."

Julie looked to her feet, thinking. "You know what I'm scared of?"

"What?" asked Seymour.

"People like Patrick Martin," she said.

Seymour raised his eyebrows. "Salespeople? Well, I've never really liked them either." He remembered why she was so afraid of them and smiled at her. "But you know what? I'd take out a hundred salespeople for you, Julie girl."

"Yeah?" Julie asked playfully.

Seymour flexed the arm muscles that he hardly possessed. "That's right, you're safe with me, Julie girl. Nothin' to be afraid of."

Julie giggled and Seymour followed with a laugh that lasted some time. Finally, they stopped and Seymour frizzed up his daughter's hair with his hand.

"Promise me you'll understand more about what I said though, Julie girl," Seymour said. "I know you like my stories about Skid Row, but some things are better to leave behind in the past."

Julie nodded. "Okay, Dad."

Seymour nodded in response and was just about to leave the room when he looked out the window and thought of something. "Looks like the snow's starting to melt. Are you still using those training wheels on your bike?"

Julie looked up. "Uh-huh."

Seymour's eyes seemed to brighten. "Well, come on then! It's time you start riding with two wheels!"

The two of them set off for the garage where Julie's bike was stored. They took the bicycle to the nearby park and found a dry, ice-free path. Julie gulped as her father took the training wheels off the bike and steadied it. There was an exciting rush in doing this, but her nerves racked as well. The bike was now wobbling onto his leg, and she knew that there was no way she could sit on it without the balance that had been there before.

"Dad, I don't know about this," she muttered.

"It's easy once you get the hang of it," said Seymour. "Come on, hop on. I'll hold you upright."

Julie slowly stepped toward her bike, trying to forget her fears of falling over. She tentatively sat on the seat, trying to concentrate on the path ahead. Her father patted her back before he gave her a thumbs up and she began pedaling. Seymour ran along the side of the bike, holding her frame as he went.

"Go faster," he said. "-It'll be easier to balance. Don't be scared."

Julie only nodded and bit her lip as she kept pedaling. Her fears almost subsided.

"Okay, I'm gonna let you go now," Seymour warned.

Julie panicked when she felt the bike wobble. "No, no, Daddy! Please, don't!" she yelled. The bike finally fell to one side and Julie fell with it. Her father came to her side afterward. Julie looked down to her feet and whimpered, "I can't."

Seymour knelt to her level and looked into her eyes. "Sure you can, Julie girl. You just have to try. This is one of the easiest things you'll ever have to face. I know it's a little scary at first, but it's easy once you see you're in control." He waited a short while, looking around, before asking, "You ready to try again?"

Julie nodded reluctantly.

"Okay," said Seymour softly before he moved it back to where they had started. Julie sat into the seat of the bicycle again, and Seymour nodded one more time before they moved forward again. The bike seemed to be speeding up more rapidly as Julie pinched her eyes closed. She hadn't been this frightened for a long time. At least for a little while, she knew that her father was there. She wouldn't be afraid again, not around him.

"There you go, and…y-you got it! Julie girl, you're riding the bike!" Seymour called from behind.

Julie opened her eyes with a start and looked at the ground. She had thought that her father was with her still, holding her on the bike, but he wasn't. She was riding the bike with two wheels, not four. It shocked her to be doing this entirely on her own and she felt compelled to let go of apprehension altogether. She rode around, carefully but with confidence and bliss, before going back to her father.

"How did that feel?" Seymour asked.

All she could say was, "Whoo-hoo!"


	14. You Are My Sunshine

_Author's Note: I've been getting a lot of feedback on this story since that last chapter and have decided to update a little earlier than usual. So, this should a pretty exciting chapter for you eager readers, but I'm not going to tell you why. Unless you've been to my profile and have read the preview, you'll just have to read and find out._

*S. Snowflake

* * *

_**Through Julie's Eyes**_

**Chapter Fourteen: You Are My Sunshine**

It was midday at _Mushnik and Son's_, near lunch hour. The sun was shining through the shop's pretty glass windows. Seymour was overseeing his shop, along with his two employees, Mary T. and Thomas, a new shophand who had quickly taken to the oportunity for an open position in the shop. Since Valentine's Day, things seemed to be looking up with the store's sales and the energy of his employees. Plus, Mary hadn't pulled any tricks with him. If anything, she seemed sort of ashamed of her previous actions. He smiled faintly, thinking about how things were finally going according to plan in his life. His shop was open and successful, his daughter was doing well at school and her friendships, and he was beyond his wife's suspicion again.

"Ma'am, look, I'm telling you, that's the best we can offer," said Thomas to an older woman, who kept debating with him at the counter about flower prices.

The elderly woman sniffled through her nose and looked the Thomas in the eye. "Young man, are you absolutely sure that's the best you can offer on the geraniums? It's for my granddaughter's birthday, you know."

Thomas sighed and tried to talk the lady into other more affordable offers, but she was stubborn about it. She was an experienced haggler, Seymour could tell. It made him glad that lunch break would be soon.

Then the phone rang in the back of the shop and Seymour decided to answer it. "Mushnik and Son's Greenville Florists, how may I help you?" he asked into the phone.

"Seymour, honey?" squeaked Audrey, in a very high pitched voice.

Seymour jumped. "Oh, honey! What's going on?"

"Seymour, you really need to-" She paused and took a deep breath, "-Come home… _now_!"

Seymour paused and stuttered. "A-Audrey?"

She took another breath on the other end. "Seymour, _it's time_!"

Seymour's heart leaped and he nearly dropped the phone. "O-okay. K-keep breathing, Audrey. I'll be there as soon as possible! J-just s-stay calm, and…"

"Just _go_!" Audrey squealed into the phone before hanging up.

Seymour clambered to hang up the phone and stumbled out of the back. He grabbed his bag, his keys, and his hat and looked around. Thomas was still haggling with the elderly woman and Mary was sitting in the back, snipping ribbons for the bows. They both heard some of the commotion in the back though.

"Is this your manager?" asked the old woman. "Sir, I'd like to know how I can get this geranium arrangement for just a bit less. Twenty dollars is not cheap, you know."

Seymour smiled quickly. "Ma'am, for you, this arrangement is free. Please, take it as a courtesy for being our…um, _three hundredth customer_!"

"Sir?" asked Mary.

The old woman smiled. "Oh, well, how very kind of…"

"Much as we appreciate this, it's after hours and I'm afraid I must go, Ma'am," Seymour said quickly, gently walking the old woman out the door. She was grateful though, and put a ten dollar tip in Seymour's hand. He shut the door and locked it, then turned back to the floral refrigerator.

"I need a baby arrangement…baby…baby…" he muttered.

"Sir?" repeated both Mary and Thomas.

"Didn't you hear me? Day off, go home!" Seymour exclaimed.

"-But why, sir?" asked Thomas.

Seymour found the arrangement he was looking for and beamed back at them. "My wife's having the baby today." He ran to the door and left after switching the sign closed. "Goodbye!"

The two employees looked to each other, smiling about the news. They blushed, looking into each other's eyes, and their gazes shifted to the ground. They decided that had just been a reaction to their boss' news.

* * *

Seymour drove home as fast as possible. After getting Audrey in the car, he then began the drive to the hospital. Audrey pinched her eyes closed trying to breath, but found that no matter how hard she tried, the pain stayed intense. She squeezed the life out of Seymour's free hand. A few times, she howled at the pain and held back tears. She wouldn't let out a scream though. She was trying to make it to the hospital at least without making those high-pitched squeaks of pain. Seymour was just trying to remain calm. He had only been through this once in his life before.

Once at the hospital, they rushed Audrey to the delivery room. She was by then past the early pains and ready to have the baby. Both Seymour and Audrey were shocked by how quickly this was happening.

Seymour stayed next to his wife through it all, holding back fear and anxiety as she crushed his hand.

"I-need-distraction…" Audrey yelped, knowing that she was close by how intense the pain was this time.

"Okay…like what?" Seymour asked.

Audrey winced, pinching her eyes as she tried to concentrate. "-Sing?"

"What?"

"Sing, Seymour. Sing!" Audrey squealed.

Seymour quickly thought about what to sing. He could have sang any number of songs; something powerful, loving, emotional, but instead, he picked something simple that he knew by heart. He felt that somehow it was right to sing it anyway:

"_You are my sunshine, my only sunshine._

_You make me happy when skies are gray._

_You'll never know, dear, how much I love you._

_Please don't take my sunshine away…"_

Audrey smiled and hummed the tune with her husband. The song was pleasing and took her mind off of it for a moment. She was just about to hum another verse when the most intense pain of all came and she knew what she had to do, even without the doctors yelling at her.

"Keep singing, Seymour! _Please_!" she pleaded, crying.

"-Huh?" Seymour asked. "Oh-oh, right…

"_When I woke up, dear, woke up one morning,_

_I thought I held you in my arms._

_When I awoke, dear, I was mistaken,_

_So I hung my head and cried."_

Audrey squeezed his hand tighter as she made a yell from the pain. Seymour continued one last refrain, and closed his eyes,

"_You are my sunshine, my only sunshine_

_You make me happy when skies are gray._

_You'll never know, dear, how much I love you,_

_Please don't take my sunshine away…"_

And just as Seymour had finished singing, he and Audrey heard the sound of a baby's cry…

* * *

Julie was listening to Ms. Straegle read _Charlotte's Web_ aloud to the class.

"Chin up, Wilbur," narrated Ms. Straegle for Charlotte. "I've been watching you Wilbur, and I…" She stopped when the door opened. "Mr. Krelborn, what a surprise."

Seymour was standing in the classroom doorway and gave her a shy nod. "Excuse me, but I have to take Julie out of class early today. We need to visit her mom and new sibling at the hospital."

Ms. Straegle smiled brightly and looked to Julie, who had dropped a pencil when she heard the news. "Well, by all means then," she said to Seymour. "Julie, pack your things."

Julie nodded and packed her backpack with the few things she needed. She looked over at Maggie with a hopeful look on her face.

"Tell me all about it," Maggie whispered as Julie left with her father.

Seymour and Julie dashed to the car. Julie noticed how jittery her father was acting and how strangely bruised his hands were. He didn't talk much at all on the drive to the hospital. Finally, she couldn't stand but ask him one question.

"Daddy, do I have a brother or a sister?" she asked.

Seymour looked through the mirror at his daughter and smiled. "You've got a little brother now. I don't want to tell you anything else though. I want you to see him."

Julie stayed quiet after that, not wanting to make a scene. Once they arrived at the hospital, Seymour got the arrangement he had made from the car trunk and led Julie inside. They darted down hallways, past nurses and doctors, until they reached one of the rooms. Seymour opened the door for Julie and she walked in.

Her mother was there, sitting on a white hospital bed, tired as could be. Her face looked partially drained of color from the great effort she had made to deliver not too long ago, but her smile was beaming with life and love as she held a blanket-wrapped bundle in her arms. She was humming a tune, a song Julie remembered as _You Are My Sunshine_, before she looked up at her daughter.

"Hi, Julie, sweetheart," Audrey said quietly and looked to Seymour. "You brought flowa's?"

Seymour led Julie toward the bed and placed the flower arrangement on the side table. "For both of you," he muttered, beaming with pride. He lifted Julie up onto the bed so that she could see. "There ya go."

Audrey giggled before moving her arms and showing Julie the baby whose face was wrapped inside. "Julie, this is your brotha', Nathaniel."

Julie stared at the baby for a long time. He was so small. She had thought babies were bigger than that. He had a round, pinkish face and sandy blond strands of hair. It looked like her mother's hair, but with a bit of her father's hair mixed in. His eyes were pinched closed so that she couldn't see their color as he slept. She was just glad that he wasn't crying.

"-Nathaniel?" Julie finally asked.

"Nate, for short," said Seymour, still smiling wider than his face could contain while watching his son as well. "-Isn't he something, Julie girl?"

Julie nodded, though she was still a little less than amazed at the tiny, pink baby. She came closer to her mother's side, still watching Nate. Seymour walked over to the other side of the bed and rested his arm against the head of the bed.

Audrey beamed with parental pride. "Hey, sweet baby," she whispered, rocking the baby gently to wake him without upsetting him. "It's your Mama. Why don't you wake up and look at all a' your family?"

Little Nathaniel stirred at last, yawning a small, baby yawn. He whined and opened his grey-blue eyes that were just like his father's. He then looked up at the two people that had been there since the beginning, his mother and father, and then at the new person, not knowing that she was his sister. Those blue, newborn eyes were taking in this world of light and faces, almost wondering how he was here at all.

Audrey kissed little Nate's cheek and whispered, "Welcome to the family."


	15. The Road to Anger

_Author's Note: Thanks to all the reviews and a little less beta confusion, I've updated a little earlier than usual. I appreciate all the support from you guys, as you've given me the most reviews I've ever had for a story; forty so far! There will be only two chapters after this one. I am looking for another beta reader for my next big project (which should be ready later on in the year), but I will say that it is another Little Shop of Horrors story and I need advice from someone else on where to take it._

_*Thank you,_

_S. Snowflake_

* * *

_**Through Julie's Eyes**_

**Chapter Fifteen: The Road of Anger**

From the moment of Nathaniel's arrival at the Krelborn house, everything changed once more. When Julie heard that she wouldn't be getting a lot of attention after the baby arrived, she hadn't thought it meant that her parents would almost never talk to her at all. The only time that she had with her parents was inbetween school and home, which was either heading home from school in the car with her father, at the shop with, or maybe reading the occasional book with her mother.

Both of her parents were extremely busy taking care of the new baby. He would cry for food, changing, and even just for attention. Sometimes Julie wondered if her little brother cried for no reason at all.

Nate seemed to get a little bigger while Audrey and Seymour seemed to get more and more tired with each passing day. Sometimes Julie would try to give a friendly visit to her brother in his crib, but after getting screamed at once or twice, she gave up on that idea. Audrey would make Julie hold her brother at least once a week so that they could bond, but Julie didn't enjoy when that happened. He would either whine, sleep, or spit up on her. None of those things seemed appealing.

Then more things changed.

"Ma?" Julie asked one morning after not finding her lunch in the refrigerator like it normally would have been, "Where's my lunch?"

Audrey looked over at Julie from the couch shortly. "Oh, sorry, sweetie. I was busy with Nate last night. You think you could make ya' own lunch?"

Julie nodded simply. She didn't mind making her own lunch, but there was something about this that felt wrong.

Rover looked up from the floor at Julie, whining for attention. Lately, Seymour and Audrey didn't give him much attention either.

Julie smiled and patted her dog's scraggly head and gave him a scrap of peanut butter and jellied bread to eat. It seemed to make him feel better. "Good boy," she said to him as he licked her face.

And so she made her own lunch from then on.

* * *

The first month with Nathaniel Krelborn passed by slowly, but soon enough. He was still a helpless baby, but now he was just a bit stronger. He slept a little less, which meant more crying, but he was more aware of the world around him too. He'd carefully tug at hair strands that hung in his grasp and place things in his mouth to try them out. Luckily, he still wasn't moving around enough to be an explorer yet. Nate's features were more apparent now too. His sandy hair grew in, his skin was more tone, and his eyes seemed even more brilliantly gray blue than they had been before. His parents couldn't be more proud of him.

It seemed that the baby was bringing Seymour and Audrey closer together as a team. Seymour had to spend more time taking care of the baby when he got home from the shop and Audrey depended on that support from her husband. The trust between them had been regained.

Sometimes, Audrey and Seymour would sit together, their son falling asleep cradled in Audrey's arms, and hum little tunes for him. Today, the couple sang Nate a song that their friends had once sang to them about the shop, but softer and more childishly bouncy,

"_Crash kerplunk, bam kerboom,_

_Zang kazoom, zan kazoom,_

_Zowie powie, holy cow,_

_You've ordered up a rainbow to go!_

_Wow, pow, look out below,_

_Don't it go to show you never know…"_

Nate seemed to smile at his parents for the serenade and closed his eyes. Audrey and Seymour pressed their forheads together and chuckled tiredly. How they wished they could just go to sleep now too.

Julie silently watched the scene from the doorway. After a while, she walked over and asked quietly, "Dad, could you tell me a bedtime story?"

Seymour looked over at his daughter and sighed. "Julie girl, I'm really tired. Can't ya just read one of your books?"

Julie pouted. "But, Dad, it's been _forever_ since you told me a real story."

"Julie, your father and I are really tired. We've been watching ya' brotha' nonstop, and we need t' rest too," Audrey said.

"You're a big girl," Seymour added, "You can take care of yourself."

"But-" Julie started, louder.

"Shh!" her parents said at once, frustrated and worried she might wake the baby.

Julie went to bed that night and read over her old books that she read probably a dozen times before. She tugged at Bunny's ears that night in frustration. It wasn't really that she didn't like reading books, it was the rejection from her mother and father that was really disheartening.

* * *

The frustration of going from day to day with little attention built up inside Julie's heart. She felt as if she could do nothing to turn this tide of changes. She would tell Maggie about it each day, trying to get a little consolement from her.

"They won't even talk to me anymore, Maggie," she mentioned one day at lunch.

"I told ya," her friend commented, "All the attention goes to the baby."

"Can't I do something?" Julie asked.

"Nope. I say don't worry about it."

"I'm not worried," Julie argued.

"You look like you are," Maggie answered.

Julie let her sandwich fall to the table, frustrated. "Don't say that, Maggie."

Maggie looked over at her friend who now had a sour pout on her face. "What's wrong, Julie?"

"Nothin', I just thought you'd be nicer than that. My little brother being a pain in the neck like he is and all." She paused. "I guess you don't care too much."

"I didn't mean it like 'dat," Maggie said as Julie stood up. Julie didn't answer her as she began to walk away. "Julie!" Maggie called with desperation.

Julie was too angry now to listen to her friend though, and kept on walking, making her own path down the road of anger.

* * *

One night soon after, Julie decided to go to visit her little brother while he was sleeping in his crib. Rover followed her quietly, knowing somehow that they were doing a bad thing. He remembered following her into this room a couple times before this, and the result was something tremendously loud and annoying before they'd dart out of his masters' way.

Julie slunk over to the crib and watched little Nate snore contentedly. She smiled with a hint of spite and reached her hand through the bars of the crib. She looked over to Rover before pinching Nate's arm hard. He woke up and squealed in response.

Julie chuckled with small satisfaction and was just about to make a dash to her bedroom, but then a beam of light fell on her face and her mother cried, "Julie!"

She was caught red handed.

Rover ducked his tail between his legs and hid under the bed, knowing that this confrontation wouldn't be good.

"What were you doing with ya' brotha'?" Audrey demanded to know, reaching into the crib with Seymour right behind her and giving Julie a stern look.

"I… I didn't do anything. He just started crying," Julie said. It was a bad cover.

"Julie girl, are you sure he just started crying for no reason?" Seymour asked as his wife whispered, "Hush, hush, sweet baby."

"Uh-huh," Julie tried to lie, but bit her lip.

Audrey noticed her son's arm turning red from where Julie had pinched him. "And what's _this_ exactly?" she asked.

"I-I… okay, I pinched him, Ma. But I didn't mean to pinch him that hard," Julie said.

"It looks like you meant to do what you did," Seymour said. "Julie girl, what were you thinking? He's just a baby!"

Julie looked to the floor. "I know, but…"

"But _nothin'_," Audrey scolded, Nate finally starting to quiet down over all of this. "You shoulda' known betta' than to do that! You're six years old; you should make betta' choices."

Tears welled up in Julie's eyes and she looked down again.

"You know what, Julie? Why don't you go t' your room and think about these things?" said Audrey.

"But, Ma-" Julie began.

"Go t' your room now, young lady. Now!" Audrey commanded and pointed out the door.

Julie sniffled and yelped, "It's not fair!" as she ran out the door and into her own bedroom. She lied down on the bed and started crying. Deep down, she knew that she had done wrong, but the moment of revenge felt so right at first. Why couldn't her parents understand what she was going through?


	16. Getting Better

_**Through Julie's Eyes**_

**Chapter Sixteen: Getting Better**

Julie woke up the next morning, feeling like she had been hit in the head the night before. She remembered how she had cried, and realized that the headache had to do with that. Her stomach growled and she decided to go eat rather than laze around in bed. She felt rotten inside, though part of her still felt like the wronged person in this situation. Her brother was still getting all the attention, after all.

As soon as she had poured her cereal, Julie heard her parents' footsteps coming down the hall. She looked down at her bowl and tried not to attract their attention, but knew that it was no good.

"Julie girl," Seymour said calmly, "Your ma and I need to talk to you."

Julie looked up. "Please don't yell."

Audrey closed her eyes. "We'll try not to. We're only human."

Julie sighed. "Okay."

Seymour looked at his daughter, studying her as if that could help him find out what was on her mind. "We just want to know why you did it, Julie."

"I-I don't know," she admitted, looking down into her cheerios again. "I didn't know what to do."

"You didn't know what t' do about what?" Audrey asked.

"Well, you never do anything with me anymore, Ma. It's always Nate now. He makes me mad, Ma. And besides, he's always cryin'," Julie admitted.

Audrey and Seymour looked at each other and nodded. "We understand," Seymour said.

"-But you know that neither of us can help it," Audrey added. "I'm always busy, Julie. I have to take care a' Nate and this house all day. How do you think that feels?"

Julie had not thought about that until now. Her mother must have been feeling pretty trapped in the situation. Still, it hurt.

"And I'm either at the shop or helping out around here," Seymour said. "I can't just give you all my time anymore, Julie girl."

"-Not even a little?" Julie asked, saddened.

"Well, things can change, but we can't make promises, Julie," Audrey said. "Ya know, when you were a baby, we had to give you all our time just like what we're doing with Nate now."

Julie shook her head. "It can't take _that_ much work. He's little."

Audrey and Seymour chuckled. "But he's a little _person_, Julie girl. He needs everything people do, but he's so small that he can't do anything for himself. Your ma and I have to do everything for him," said Seymour.

"We have to feed him," Audrey said.

"-And change him."

"And burp him."

"And _change_ him," Seymour added again.

Audrey smirked at her husband's disdain for changing their baby's diapers, but continued, "Anyway, back when you were a baby, you were our whole world. We had t' do everything for you too, and we watched you grow up and become more independent. Now that you're growing up, we moved our attention a little."

"Ya see, we never stopped caring about you, but we had to think about who was more helpless," Seymour added.

"You'll always be our baby," Audrey said, smiling wide at their daughter, "but Nate's our baby too and he needs all that love and care to become a good kid like his sister is."

Julie tried to smile at that. "Do you think you can tell me a story just one time a week?"

Again, her parents looked to each other and nodded. "I think we can manage that," Seymour commented.

"Don't forget, Nate likes stories too," Audrey added.

Julie chuckled. "But he's a baby. He won't understand."

"He might if his sista' reads to him," her mother said.

Throughout that day, Julie wondered what her mother had meant by those words. Her baby brother could never understand a story… could he? She thought about other things too. Maggie was still upset at her for what she had said.

Now there were two amends she had to make.

* * *

It had not taken much time for Julie to take her mother's hint about Nate liking stories. She came into her parents' room one night with a storybook she thought anyone would like, _Robin Hood_. With a little resistance, she looked into her brother's crib to see if he was awake. Sure enough, Nate was gazing up at the ceiling above him. He seemed a little nervous about the girl who liked to pinch him being in the room, and started to whine.

"I'm not gonna hurt ya," Julie told her little brother quietly. "Please, please don't cry, baby. Please?"

Nate still whimpered at her presence in the room, but he didn't cry about it either.

Julie sighed with relief. "Well, I thought you'd like this one. I have to make up somehow, I guess." She opened the storybook and read it aloud. "Once upon a time, in the land of Engl-land, there was a happy town called-" She stopped. "I always have to slow down here… Not-ting-ham. Nottingham." She smiled. "The people were happy with their king Richard." She stopped to show Nathaniel the picture of the good king.

Nate was silent as he looked at the picture.

"Then one day, the king had to leave for the war," Julie continued. "His brother John became the king. But he was bad. He made all the people of Nottingham pay taxes. The people were so poor that they didn't know what to do. Only one person could help them…" She flipped the page to the illustration of the hero. "Robin Hood!"

"Gaah!" Nathaniel exclaimed and moved an arm toward the book.

"You… understand?" Julie asked her brother, surprised. She paused and said it again, "Robin Hood!"

"Gaah hooph!" Nathaniel added with a clear smile on his baby face.

Julie laughed. "Close enough." She cleared her throat and started reading again. "Robin Hood had his friends, the merry men, and they had a crazy plan. They took money away from the king and his friends to give back to the poor. It was a good thing to do, but it was dangerous…"

The story continued from there. Robin Hood and the merry men had to avoid the sheriff and all his bad doings, he had to win in an archery contest, and then there was the love interest. Julie did not get the opportunity to read aloud too often, and now that she was, she felt alive. Nathaniel continued to listen to the tale and make his interjections. Julie hardly wondered if he could understand her now. She was almost certain that he could.

"And with everything right again, they lived happily ever after," Julie finished the last line and closed the book with a small yawn. "Well, did you like it?"

"Dah," Nathaniel commented back, smiling at her.

Julie laughed and reached into the crib to gently frizz up her little brother's sandy blond hair. It was very soft. He responded to her touch by grabbing her arm with his tiny hand. It hurt a little, but Julie finally figured out that he didn't mean to do it.

"Wanna hear another story?" she asked, already thinking about which book she would grab next.

Later, Seymour and Audrey came into their room, ready to go to bed and feed the baby a final time for the night. They were astounded to find Julie asleep on the floor with a pile of about six books at her feet. Nathaniel was sleeping soundly in his crib. Silently, Seymour scooped up his daughter and brought her to her own bed while Audrey put away the books and rocked the baby before they shut off the lights and went to sleep. At last, there had been a little peace.

* * *

Julie did not see Maggie around much after their disagreement. She at first had been avoiding Maggie, but later on, it seemed that the tables had turned on her. Of course, she saw her friend in class, but as soon at the bell rang, she would take off and join the crowd of no return. It was difficult to just approach her as well, since there could be more confrontation if she did that.

The opportunity came unexpectedly one day. The school bus came late, and all the kids waited at the bus stop in a big late crowd. Maggie separated herself from the rest of the group. Julie saw that and pushed through them to get to her. It took some courage to actually say something to her friend, but at last, she started it.

"Hi, Maggie."

Maggie looked over at Julie, then back. "Hi."

"Can I talk?" Julie asked quietly.

Maggie shrugged, but seemed upset underneath. "Sure. Do what ya want."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you mad. I just felt like you were telling me that you were right the whole time about Nate." She paused. "I guess you were, but it still got me mad."

"I wasn't trying to do that, Julie," Maggie replied, kicking up the dirt under her shoes. "Why didn't you come talk to me after that?"

Julie chuckled. "I was being stupid. I thought you didn't want to talk t' me."

Maggie laughed with her. "Yeah, I thought the same thing. We both were pretty stupid."

The bus arrived and the two girls looked up and got ready to board. "So… are we still friends?"

"If you still wanna be."

Julie nodded and shook Maggie's hand. "Yeah, I sure do."

This was as if she was re-friending Maggie. It had been a little awkward at first, but it was worth it in the end. The two girls sat next to each other on the bus and talked just a little bit about their siblings and other things. When Maggie heard Julie's story about telling _Robin Hood_ to Nate, she smiled.

"You think things are getting better?" she asked.

Julie looked out the window for a little while then looked back to her friend. "Yeah, maybe they are."


	17. Riding Uphill

_Author's Note: Here we are; the final chapter! I cannot believe that I've actually finished this story. It has been such a long__ and odd__ ride. I am much more than satisfied with the attention that this story has gathered and I hope that you readers have really enjoyed it. Thank you to my reviewers who made this a success. Thank you to my beta reader Ossiana of the B.P.R.D._ _And a great thank you to so many other people and influences that made this story possible._

_*Star's Snowflake, signing out,_

_February 19th, 2010.

* * *

_

_**Through Julie's Eyes**_

**Chapter Seventeen: Riding Uphill**

"Hold still, Julie," Audrey begged her daughter that day at the town park. She fixed up her daughter's lime green dress lace with fervor.

"Ma, I'm fine," Julie argued, despite her mother's persistence at trying to create the perfect family photograph and not allowing her dress to be called perfection.

Seymour winked at Julie, feeling foolish himself with a big blue bow tie on his chest, then Nate began to fuss in his stroller and he decided to tend to his son.

"What's the matter?" he asked little Nathaniel, rocking him to soothe his son. "You're not looking forward to this either, are you?"

"I heard that, _honey_," Audrey said from behind.

"Well, it's true. I mean, while we all look…" He stopped for a moment, thinking about how he could possibly not offend his wife. "-_great_," he finished and coughed, "-While we all look great, did we really have to do this today?"

Audrey finally let go of the piece lace that had been right in her daughter's face and walked over to her husband. "The weatha's just perfect t'day. We can't miss out." She smiled down at Nate and took him off her husband's hands, only to pluck at and spruce up his baby outfit as well. "Seymour, you know how to handle the camera, don't you?"

"I got it, I got it," Seymour answered his wife before grabbing the old camera on its tripod. He was still a little more than confused about how to use the camera, but with a little luck, he finally got it ready to work. "Okay, everyone, smile while I try to run into the photo."

Audrey made a light squeak, stopped fidgeting with Nate's clothes before looking up at the camera, and smiled. Seymour quickly ran beside her. "Say cheese!" he said.

Audrey could not help but fix a curl of her husband's hair that had flopped at an odd angle just before she and Julie said, "Cheese!"

Of course, the Krelborns took a few more photographs (and by the end of it, everyone was sick of Audrey always touching up their clothes at the last minute), just to be sure that they had that perfect shot. They walked around together for a while after that, talking about little things. When the Harrises showed up at the park, Julie immediately ran over to visit Maggie.

"Isn't is great summer's almost here?" Maggie asked Julie.

"Oh yeah," Julie agreed. "Freedom!"

The two girls chuckled at that. "Maybe we could go to the pool at the high school sometime," Maggie said.

"Yeah, or have a campout," Julie thought aloud.

"I bet you need a break from Nate, huh?"

"Yeah, he can drive me crazy with all the cryin'," Julie agreed. "But he's not too bad for a little brother."

Audrey and Seymour conversed with each other as well while the young girls talked about their summer plans.

"So... Mary and Tom?" Audrey asked.

"Strangest thing. They actually seem to be doing well together. I never would a' thought Mary and Tom would be a good match, but sure as I'm here they're stuck on each other," Seymour replied.

Audrey smiled. "As much as that woman caused problems, I hope she can find somethin' betta' in him." She took one hand off Nate's stroller and clutched her husband's hand with it. "You're all mine."

"For better or worse," Seymour said.

"Oh, I rememba'! The girls sent us anotha' letta'. They're comin' to visit in May to see Nate," Audrey said. "Maybe I won't burn the chicken this time."

"Maybe," Seymour replied, a bit doubtfully.

* * *

It was later that day when the mail came to the Krelborn house. The truck pulled up to the house and the mailman actually walked up to the front door with a medium sized box in his hand. He saw a little girl digging in the front yard and tipped his hat to her without looking at what she was doing. Audrey got to the door before he could even ring the bell.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Sorry to interrupt, Ma'am, but there's been a big problem with your mail," he said.

"What kind a' problem would that be?"

"Well, somehow a certain sender from Skid Row, New York City has been trying to send you letters, but there was a fault in the system about letters from Skid Row for a long time and, well, they all would go right back to the sender." He paused and coughed in embarrassment. "Anyway, when this person, err… _passed on_, some girl from Skid Row –name was Ronnette, I think- she found them and had them all sent here. We felt that we owed you an apology for all these years. Here's the mail."

Audrey's eyes widened. There was only one person that could have fit that description. She almost forgot to say, "Thank you" to the mailman as she took the package from him and ran inside to tear it open. Just as she had guessed, inside were about 20 letters, all from her mother.

Her fingers twitched as she took hold of the first letter. It was from all the way back to when she had just left Skid Row with Seymour. It had been breaking news then, and she wondered, even now, what her mother thought. Quickly, her eyes began to dart across the page and read the old message.

_Dear Audrey,_

_ I'm sorry I haven't been very good at getting back to you about these things. I don't see you anymore, and I really wish I could get out there, but I'm still feeling pretty sick, and the doctor's been telling me not to go out as much._

_ So, you left Orin? Good for you. He sounded like a real creep from all the things you said. I can't say that I'm too excited that you married so quick after that, but if this Seymour guy loves you, what can I do? As long as he hasn't got you pregnant yet, then you kids have my blessing._

_ - Love, Mom._

As tacky as that first letter had been, Audrey held it tight to her chest and cried. It felt so good to hear something from her mother. It was so wonderful just to know at last. She read the others slowly after that, treasuring the words and memories they brought. There were holiday letters, baby letters, letters about the tough time Seymour had been through, and letters about Marianne's own sickness. Every letter seemed to fill in a gap of time that had previously been lost.

Suddenly Seymour walked into the room and saw his wife reading over letters with tears in her eyes. "Audrey? Audrey, what's the matter?"

Audrey did not even look over at her husband. "Mama's letta's," she squeaked quietly, "Mama's letta's finally came."

Audrey read over the last letter from her mother. It was clear that Marianne knew her time was almost up, because she was always talking about how she was so sick that life was painful, and how much she wished she had found the opportunity to meet Seymour and her grandchildren. There was also a long last paragraph that Audrey read over a few times:

_No matter what happens, Audrey, you are living your life now. I'm sorry that I wasn't a very good part of it. I tried my best, but let's face it; Skid Row messed me up. I'm glad that you could get away from here. I'm so proud of you for all you got through and have become. Just remember this when I'm not here anymore: You can pick up the broken pieces when everything falls apart. You always have been doing that, and you're better at the trick than I ever was. You're strong, Audrey. Be strong and be happy. Love your family more than anything else and keep them close. Life can be miserable without love._

_ -Love, Mom._

Audrey let more tears roll from her eyes and shook a little. Her mother's words were so inspiring now. She felt Seymour gently hold her shoulders as she wept, not out of pain but relief, and she released a breath of air.

"Mama wants me to tell you that she loves us," Audrey finally said to Seymour.

Seymour smiled hopelessly at her. "That's good. I was worried that after all these years she'd be mad at me for not talking to her."

Audrey chuckled and hugged him, gently swaying from side to side in his arms. "You know, when life gets hard, sometimes I forget about all a' the good things we have, and it took me 'til now t' realize it," she whispered.

Audrey and Seymour stayed together in silence for a moment or two before their son wailed from their bedroom and they both jolted up.

"Well, that's our queue to take care a' the baby," Seymour said.

"Yeah," Audrey agreed and looked around. "Where's Julie? It's almost dinna'time."

Seymour looked outside and saw his daughter finishing up her business in the garden and pulling her bicycle out of the garage. He and Audrey walked outside and watched her.

"Julie, it's almost dinna'time," Audrey called out to her daughter.

Julie turned around. "I know, but can I ride just for one minute?"

Her parents shrugged. "Sure," Audrey replied.

Julie was just about to leave then when her father called, "Wait, Julie girl, w-what did you plant out here?"

"The zinnia," Julie answered past the fence. "It wasn't doing so well in the pot, so I put it in a bigger home." She smiled back at her little plant, which seemed almost happy to be in the ground, and then went off down the road.

Her parents were satisfied, and they walked back into their house, contented.

By now, the sun was setting in the distance. Julie felt her legs pushing the bicycle onward, faster and faster, toward that blinding orange sunlight. She rode up a sloped street and took a break, smiling down at the many rows of suburbs, and the hills beyond that, leading off far from home. She thought about it then, and realized that life was like riding a bicycle uphill. It just kept going on and on.

**The End.**


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